The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has published a handbook setting out core principles and recommendations for social bond impact reporting. The new handbook offers impact-reporting metrics and sector-specific guidance for affordable housing, with future iterations due to cover other social bond project categories. Transparency and reporting are critical to developing a robust social bond market and to maintaining the integrity of the market, ICMA said. Social bonds are instruments aligned with the four core principles of ICMA’s Social Bond Principles, whereby proceeds are exclusively applied to finance or re-finance eligible social projects. These are projects should aim to address or mitigate specific social issues and/or seek to achieve positive social outcomes. Similar to ICMA’s harmonised framework for green-bond impact reporting, the new handbook offers core principles and recommendations to enable social bond issuers to provide the market with standardised practices. In addition, the guidance includes an illustrative list of quantitative social indicators that may be considered in impact reporting.
The handbook offers impact reporting metrics for affordable housing. Future iterations will cover other social bond project categories.@ICMAgroup https://t.co/OMNyYp9dXn
— Regulation Asia (@RegulationAsia) September 30, 2024
