Sustainable bond issuance globally has surpassed US$3 trillion, yet less than 1 percent of that amount is dedicated to bonds that empower women and girls as a priority objective.
With gender lens investing gaining traction as part of overall sustainable bond issuance, the Orange Bond Principles are seeking to catalyse investment in gender-led bond issuance in a similar pathway to initiatives that have driven green and sustainability-linked bond demand.
The Initiative’s latest insights report, ‘Building a Gender-Empowered Financial System’, provides a three-pronged framework to systematically scale investing in gender equality.
It explores key concepts including (1) the potential for Orange Bonds as a cross-cutting asset class to advance gender-just prosperity, peace, and climate resilience; (2) the need to embrace diversity, equality, and inclusion in decision-making; and (3) the potential to align risk, return, and impact to build transparent, data-driven financial markets.
Taking an ecosystem approach, the report includes recommendations on how various actors can be a part of the ‘Orange’ movement and transition gender-lens investing from strategy to action.
Empowering women is imperative to the global community and economy if we want to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) by 2030. Time and time again, it has been proven that investing in women and empowering women-focused enterprises is the key to achieving sustainable development. Although organizations and companies in both the private and public sectors as well as governments are taking active steps to improve the financial inclusion of women, we are very far from the finish line. Women continue to be the majority of unbanked adults (56%), women also continue to earn less on average than men even in developed countries and women-led enterprises receive less funding than those led by their male counterparts. The global COVID-19 pandemic has furthered this gap and affected women, especially those from developing countries in a disproportionate manner.
At our current rate of progress, it will take 132 years to close the global gender gap, which means we will be halfway through the 22nd century before we experience an equal society.
The World Economic Forum’s 2022 Global Gender Gap Report also found that despite more substantial improvements made in areas of health, survival and education, closing the gap in economic participation and opportunity is still significantly out of reach for many women across the world.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Reuters Events are proud to announce our 2023 line-up of women working to change the world of finance to better serve people and planet, inspiring the next generation of female leaders.
When it comes to high-level discussions on climate, studies show that women are significantly less likely than men to get a seat at the table.*
Occupying a marginalised position in the world of governance, women often shoulder the burden of climate inaction more than their male counterparts in society, with research indicating that climate disasters disproportionately affect female populations by acting as a ‘threat multiplier’ for existing gender-specific vulnerabilities.**
On International Women’s Day, at illuminem we are proud to celebrate 100 inspiring female leaders who promote sustainability and the fight against climate change across the world.
Our editorial list is composed of 5 honorable mentions, each making a difference in a special way:
Please help us congratulate our great female Leaders! Please join us to celebrate all women!
With an aim of employing 50,000 women doctors and healthcare workers by 2030, Sehat Kahani democratizes medical care by providing access to affordable telemedicine solutions and connecting the untapped pool of female Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) certified doctors to underserved patients.
Image source: www.sehatkahani.com
Supporting initiatives like Impact Investment Exchange’s (IIX) Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) series – including the recently released ‘orange bond’ – is about more than using capital in a socially-responsible manner, according to ANZ MD, Institutional Australia & PNG, Tammy Medard. It’s also just good business.
Last year was an unprecedented success for IIX, as we continued to work towards achieving our mission of revolutionizing the financial system. Despite the challenges that were posed across industry sectors and economies worldwide, 2022 saw us take bold steps in fulfilling this vision – with remarkable growth both internally and externally. Our Impact Report shines a spotlight on these accomplishments while providing insights into where progress has been made and what lies ahead in 2023.
Shearman & Sterling provided pro bono legal representation to the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) for the Women’s Livelihood Bond™ 5 (WLB5), the fifth bond in the IIX Women’s Livelihood Bond Series™ (WLB Series). The transaction raised $50 million and is the first sustainable debt issuance that aligns with the Orange Bond Principles, a set of guidelines developed by a coalition of impact investors and other market participants led by IIX to promote gender-lens investing.
The WLB5 uses a blended capital structure to pool together a portfolio of high-impact enterprises that promote gender equality across multiple countries and sectors. It aims to empower 300,000 women and girls across Asia and Africa by building economic resilience and advancing climate action. The WLB5 also has a “green” aspect, with a portion of the proceeds allocated to empowering women to advance climate action. To date, the WLB Series has mobilized $128 million and has met or exceeded all its impact targets, collectively empowering 1.3 million women and girls from emerging markets in Asia and Africa.