Second-Party Opinion Download

The Inter-American Development Bank has developed the Inter-American Development Bank Sustainable Debt Framework, dated October 2025, under which it intends to issue green, social and sustainability bonds to fund public sector projects in Latin America and the Caribbean region under 20 environmental and social categories. We have assessed the overall Sustainability Contribution of the Framework as Strong based on the average Sustainability Contribution of the Framework’s 20 use of proceeds categories. As per our methodology, we have applied equal weighting across categories.

The IDB intends to finance environmental expenditures in Energy Efficiency; Renewable Energy; Environmentally Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources and Land Use; Climate Change Adaptation; Clean Transportation; Sustainable Water and Wastewater Management; and Pollution Prevention and Control. Overall, the environmental expenditures are expected to contribute to the biodiversity and climate action of the IDB’s borrower countries and promote pollution prevention and sustainable water management. However, the refurbishment of existing large hydropower plants with unknown emissions intensity is considered to have uncertain climate mitigation impacts.

The IDB intends to finance social expenditures in the categories of Access to Essential Services – Education; Healthcare; Access to Basic Infrastructure – Water and Sanitation, Energy, Transport, Housing, Climate Disaster Recovery; Socioeconomic Advancement and Empowerment; Cultural Preservation; Employment Generation; Food Security and Sustainable Food Systems; Security, Justice, and Conflict Resolution; and State Modernization. Each of the social categories target at least one of the following: Vulnerable Populations, Underserved Populations, and MSMEs. Certain aspects of the definitions of some target populations also lack specificity, including those related to the intended beneficiaries of state modernization expenditures, where the target populations are generally broad-based across society. Moreover, in the case of some social expenditures, affordability will be addressed but not guaranteed. Nevertheless, the social expenditures are expected to contribute to the overall socio-economic development of the IDB’s borrower countries.

We have assessed the Framework as Aligned with the Green Bond Principles 2025, Social Bond Principles 2025, Sustainability Bond Guidelines 2021.