In April 2019, Wallonia developed its initial Sustainability Bond Framework to support the issuance of its inaugural sustainable bond.
It was based on best market practices, in line with the four ICMA governance principles proposed in its 2018 version of the Sustainability Bond Guidelines :
- Use of proceeds ;
- Project evaluation and selection ;
- Management of proceeds ;
- Reporting on each bond issued (funds allocations and impact analyzes)
During 2021, this document has been updated to align with the new version of the ICMA principles issued in June 2021 (GBP - SBP - SBG), but also to encounter the upcoming adoption by Belgium of the EU Taxonomy and the European Green Bond Standards.
Wallonia also took the opportunity to update two of its categories of social expenditure, confirming its decision to allocate funds to finance exceptional expenditures in its fight against the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The update version of the Framework is available hereby for download.
Wallonia intents to further evolve its Framework to reflect the alignment of its sustainable development objectives with the adoption by Belgium of the EU Taxonomy , both in terms of environmental and social spending.
Wallonia uses its framework to programmatically manage all bond issues intended to finance spending linked to its sustainable development goals, confirming its rank of recurring SSA issuer on the market for green, social and/or sustainability bonds.