We have supported the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC) to publish best practice guidelines on gender bonds. The work is the initial phase of a wider cooperation agreement between the two institutions to support projects advancing gender equality and climate change. Through the support and technical expertise of FSD Africa, the AMMC built on its previously published guidelines for green, social and sustainability bonds to develop specific guidelines on gender bonds – a first for the North African region.
The wider FSD Africa-AMMC partnership will see FSD Africa support the AMMC to roll out initiatives that facilitate the issuing of gender and green bonds. Gender bonds are bonds that support women’s empowerment and gender equality by financing activities supporting these causes, while green bonds finance projects addressing climate change and sustainability.
Women’s empowerment and climate change are priority pillars for Africa’s sustainable development, which are both in need of additional fundingnvestment. Mobilizing greater global financial flows through green bonds and channelling these towards green investments in Africa is critical.
This year marks an especially pivotal year for FSD Africa’s green finance work in the lead up to the flagship COP26 Climate Change Conference in the UK this November. Here, the world’s decision-makers will convene to discuss climate change globally and in Africa, presenting an opportunity for Africa to play a more important role in addressing global climate change and to secure much needed green finance flows to achieve this.
To support the AMMC’s capacity to issue green bonds in Morocco, the FSD Africa partnership will provide Moroccan regulators and green bonds stakeholders with training on the ins and outs of green bonds and also advise a pipeline of green finance transactions in consultation with financial sector stakeholders.
Morocco is a pioneering financial market in North Africa that has already issued five green bonds. Building capacity to issue more green bonds can therefore play a crucial role in demonstrating the viability for green bonds in North Africa and the wider continent. This initial phase of work is expected to catalyse the issuance of more gender and green bonds in North Africa.
Africa’s support under the partnership will be jointly funded and delivered by the FSD Africa Capital Markets and Strategy Teams.
