Saudi wealth fund plans green bond, works with BlackRock on ESG

[RIYADH] Saudi Arabia's US$430 billion sovereign wealth fund plans to announce its first green debt issuance and is working with BlackRock on a framework incorporating environmental, social and governance principles.

The Public Investment Fund will announce the green issuance "very soon," Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said in a virtual event on Tuesday.

"We're working with many partners from all over the world, domestically and internationally, to have a better ESG compliance to all the things that we do," Mr Al-Rumayyan said.

The oil-rich kingdom is looking to boost its environmental credentials and this month appointed HSBC Holdings and JPMorgano as joint structuring agents for its sustainability financing framework. The PIF, as the wealth fund is known, has also hired five international banks as members of an ESG panel for its medium-term capital-raising strategy, according to Reuters.

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