The International Capital Markets Association has included AIFC Green Finance Centre in its Mapping of external review providers
The International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) has included the AIFC Green Finance Centre (hereinafter referred to as the Centre) in External Review Service Mapping, which contains information on verifiers of green, social and sustainable development bonds.
The inclusion of the Centre in the ICMA Mapping is a recognition of the compliance of the Centre’s methodologies and approaches with the ICMA guidelines for independent verifiers and international industry standards.
The External Review Service Mapping contains information about verifiers, their experience, country and language coverage, as well as the range of services offered.
ICMA is an international non-profit organization, one of the priorities of which is the development of the green bond market. In 2014, ICMA, in collaboration with the Climate Bonds Initiative, developed and published the Green Bonds Principles, which have become a universally recognized standard in the green finance market.
AIFC Green Finance Centre has been providing external review services for sustainable bonds and loans since 2020. One of the largest projects of the Centre in the past year was the verification of the green loan of Halyk Bank in the amount of 7.9 billion tenge, as well as green bonds of Samruk-Energy in the amount of 18.4 billion tenge.
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The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is an independent jurisdiction that started operations in 2018. In accordance with the Development Strategy until 2025, the key focus of the AIFC is to consolidate as a universal platform connecting the countries of the EAEU, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
www.aifc.kz
The AIFC Green Finance Centre is a subsidiary organisation of the AIFC Authority and the Eurasian Development Bank, aimed at introduction and development of sustainable finance instruments and attracting of investments in environmental and social projects in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
The AIFC Green Finance Centre supported the very first issuance of green bonds and first verified green loan in Kazakhstan. Also, the Centre introduced definitions of green finance and green taxonomy (a classifier of economic activities and projects that meet technical selection criteria) in the national environmental legislation. The new legislation provides incentives for entrepreneurs who use green finance instruments.
