Vienna, Austria, 10 June 2022 – As an alternate capital market instrument, Sukuk can play a significant role in driving capital flows towards green and sustainability-linked projects.

This was the key message by Dr. Zamir Iqbal, Vice President (Finance) and CFO of Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), who was interviewed as part of the proceedings of the 54^th Annual General Meeting of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) which convened in Vienna, Austria. He was interviewed by Mr. Yves Jacob, Global Head of Public Sector Coverage, Société Générale.

Dr. Zamir shared the successful experience of IsDB, which is a frequent issuer of Sukuk for mobilizing resources from the capital markets and raised more than US$ 33 billion to date. This includes its debut Green and Sustainability issuances totaling more than US$ 5 billion for both green and social projects in its Member Countries.

The successful Sustainability Sukuk issuances by IsDB reaffirm the strong linkage between Islamic financial instruments and principles of sustainability which are already embedded therein, he said. Bond issuers should naturally, therefore, embrace Sukuk as an alternate instrument for resource mobilization, especially for green and climate action-linked financing.

He also reiterated the plan of IsDB to be fully aligned with the Paris Agreement and its climate finance target of 35% of total commitments by 2025. This, he remarked, would expand the portfolio of green and climate action-linked projects that can then be used as the underlying pool of assets for potential Green and Sustainability Sukuk issuances.

IsDB is a multilateral development financial institution with 57 Member Countries and a mandate of delivering social and economic development in Member Countries and Muslim communities worldwide.