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UOP bonds are debt instruments where financing is allocated to investments with positive environmental and/or social benefits. Issuers are encouraged to review ICMA’s Pre-Issuance Checklist for Green Bonds and Pre-Issuance Checklist for Social Bonds for further guidance.

The first step in issuing a Green, Social, or Sustainability Bond is to evaluate the preparedness of the organization to issue these types of instruments. Through this self-assessment, an issuer can evaluate both their capacity as an organization and the issuance itself, including a review of the eligibility criteria and the definition of the use of proceeds. A Self-Assessment template is provided in IDB Invest’s Practitioners Guide and Toolkit for Thematic Bonds (see page 36). Within this step, Issuers are urged to ensure that they have established robust corporate governance practices within the organization.

The next step is the preparation of the Framework, which is a detailed document describing how the issuance is aligned with the ICMA Principles. The Framework will define the decision-making process involved in defining the (1) eligible use of proceeds (2) selecting eligible projects, (3) the management of funds, and (4) reporting on impact and allocation of the use of proceeds.

The third step is to obtain an external verification, which will determine the level of alignment of the framework with international principles and standards. The most common type of external review at this stage is the SPO.

The fourth step is to issue the bond. Prior to issuance, the issuers must follow the JSE Rules and Regulations. A summarized description of these steps is described in Annex 2: Checklist of Listing Requirements for JSE.

One year after issuance, the issuer reports the impact and results indicators of the resources allocated by the bond on an annual basis. Refer to Chapter 3 of this guidance document for more details on this process.

The Green, Social, Sustainable and Sustainability-Linked Bond Guide

This guidance document is a result of a cooperation between the Jamaica Stock Exchange (“JSE”) and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (“IDB Invest”) with technical support provided by sustainable finance consulting firm, HPL.LLC (“HPL”). The purpose of the guide is to provide the Jamaican market with tools for the issuance of Green, Social, Sustainability, and Sustainability-Linked Bonds (“GSS+” or “thematic” bonds) and thus influence the advancement towards sustainable financing in the country.

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GSS+ Bond Guide for Jamaica