S&P Global Ratings, New York, United States

1860

CFO, CEO, Treasurer, Head of Sustainability at Issuer firms

Second Party Opinions (SPOs)

Sustainable finance

Green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bond issuance has grown strongly in recent years, surpassing $3 trillion in issuance outstanding in H1 2022. Considering the self-labelled nature of the sustainable finance market, S&P SPOs are used by issuers to demonstrate that their sustainable financings are aligned to best market principles. SPOs can thus facilitate issuers’ access to sustainable debt markets and investors.

S&P SPOs provide an independent assessment of a company’s financing or framework's alignment with market standards. Our options include Use-of-Proceeds SPOs (Green, Social, Sustainability) and Sustainability-Linked SPOs. By demonstrating issuers’ alignment with best market standards as well as impact of transactions, SPOs deliver the level of transparency that investors and lenders increasingly demand.

Our SPOs are written by the sustainable finance team and delivered in report format. So far over 500 SPOs have been delivered across bonds, loans, private placements, and project financings in various sectors. In December 2022 S&P Global acquired CICERO Shades of Green, the largest external reviewer of green financings globally, by volume.

English

Geert Arlman, EMEA Commercial Head of ESG