As part of the activities under the NDC Finance Community of Practice of the Asia LEDS Partnership to build capacities and enhance knowledge sharing to accelerate investment flows into NDC implementation efforts across the Asia-Pacific region, virtual trainings were organized on the topic of Green Bonds.

Cognizant of the rapid growth and relevance of the green bond market and bearing in mind the strong appetite for these innovative debt instruments, the Asia LEDS Partnership (ALP) and Africa LEDS Partnership (AfLP) partnered with Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) to provide this training.

The training was sponsored by the LEDS GP and provided to the participants free of cost.

The overall training was divided into 2 parts:

• Introduction to Green Bonds- This was a basic training which introduced the main conceptual points to understand this dept instrument and how it can be used to tackle climate change as well as to promote sustainable development.
• Green Bonds In-depth training: This was a more detailed training on the different facets of green bonds and the market and policy landscape was delivered to a limited set of participants based on a selection process.

Introduction to Green Bonds

The green bonds basic training was held on the 21^st of September, 2021 in which a total of 61 participants attended. The session presented to the participants, the different definitions of green bonds, the differences between green, social and sustainability bonds and the different types of green bonds.

Joan Manda, Co-Chair, Finance Working Group, LEDS GP set the tone for the training session and welcomed the participants.

The session was conducted by CBI’s lead trainer Abraham Pedroza.

Green Bonds In-depth training:

This training was more intensive than the previous session and hence was conducted over a course of 3 consecutive days of 2.5 hours each. Due to the nature of the training, the participant count was limited to 25, to ensure maximum participation of the members and an opportunity to receive quality feedback.

Interested applicants particularly those representing national and sub-national governments were asked to fill out an application form stating the usefulness of the training for their respective area of work within the governmental structures.

While information was imparted through presentations, it was through the mode of group exercises and quizzes that participants were given the opportunity to apply what they had learned as well as contextualise the theory to their own respective country specific situations.

The course covered aspects the finance landscape and green bond basics; market infrastructure and policy landscape; green bon issuance and process; market dynamics and development.

The sessions were delivered by CBI’s lead trainer Abraham Pedroza and Cedric Rimaud (ASEAN Specialist).