Saudi wealth fund to issue green debt soon

DUBAI. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund plans to announce soon its first green debt deal, with borrowing linked to sustainability, the Public Investment Fund’s governor told a virtual event.

“We will be the first sovereign wealth fund in the world to announce this green issuance,” Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan told an event on Tuesday held alongside the United Nations General Assembly. In July, Reuters reported that PIF had sent banks a request for proposals to set up a framework for environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. This month, PIF hired banks to be members of its ESG panel for its medium-term capital-raising strategy, IFR News reported.

Rumayyan said PIF was working with BlackRock on the ESG framework. “We’re working with many partners from all over the world, domestically and internationally, to have better ESG compliance (in) all the things that

we do,” Rumayyan said.