About
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines are closely linked to the Green Bond Principles and the Social Bond Principles (together referred to as the 'Principles').
Sustainability Bonds are bonds where the proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or re-finance a combination of both 'Green' and 'Social Projects', and which are aligned with the four core components of the Green Bond Principles and/or the Social Bond Principles:
- Use of Proceeds
- Process for Project Evaluation and Selection
- Management of Proceeds
- Reporting
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines are voluntary process guidelines targeting issuers of 'Sustainability Bonds', which have been designed to confirm the relevance of the Principles. The Sustainability Bond Guidelines are intendedto facilitate the application of the Principles' guidance on transparency, disclosure and reporting to the Sustainability Bond market, and thereby facilitate the availability of information for the review and evaluation by relevant actors such as investors and underwriters.
Who does it impact?
Bond issuers and other actors in the international bond market.
Status: Launched
In force and updated on a regular basis.
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines were last separately updated in June 2021. However, since the SBG operate by reference to the Green Bond Principles and the Social Bond Principles, both of which were updated in June 2025, the underlying standards applicable to Sustainability Bonds reflect those 2025 updates. The June 2025 Guidance Handbook also provides relevant supplementary guidance.
Relation to other initiatives and regulations
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines are drafted by the International Capital Market Association ('ICMA') and are closely connected to the Green Bond Principles, the Social Bond Principles and the EU Green Bond Standard.
ICMA has also published a Practitioners Guide for Sustainable Bonds for Nature (June 2025), which is applicable to sustainability bonds, and Climate Transition Bond Guidelines (November 2025), introducing a standalone transition bond label.
Participants
Membership is open to organisations that have issued, underwritten or placed, or invested in a Green, Social or Sustainability Bond.
Thommessen's comments
The Sustainability Bond Guidelines, together with the Green Bond Principles and the Social Bond Principles, have become the globally leading framework for issuance of green, social and sustainability bonds.
In our view, the bond markets can contribute to allocating private capital to projects that are beneficial to the environment and/or projects with positive social outcomes.