In talks with Indian firms to issue green bonds: Luxembourg Stock Exchange CEO

The Luxembourg Stock Exchange is in talks with Indian conglomerates to issue green bonds and tap into India's green finance market, its CEO Robert Scharfe has said.

“Some Indian banks have tapped into the market and a number of companies are considering this. Bond market is the easiest because companies have ratings which are known to the investors,” he said.

Green bonds are debt instruments issued to fund green projects or those that have a positive environmental or climate impact.


The bourse launched the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), a dedicated platform for green, social and sustainable securities in 2016.

LGX aims to provide issuers, asset managers and investors with an environment for bonds and funds which are green, social and sustainable. , the best practices are mandatory such as post issuance report on allocation of funds and impact report in order to make investors accountable to the investors.

“There is a need for massive involvement of the private sector in environment and sustainability issues. The public sector can’t do it alone,” Scharfe said.

"It has to be a combination of incentives at the local government level and individual level such as building energy efficient houses wherein the government can offer tax credits, e-mobility and traffic management,” he said.

Emphasising that investment decisions should be based on sustainability, he said the exchange is looking at India for cooperation and encourage issuers so that they can import capital to fund local projects.

SBI, Yes Bank, Exim Bank and Axis Bank are a few Indian banks who have issued green bonds in the international market and used them to find green projects.

Separately, the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange are party to the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative wherein Indian exchanges have opted for guidance.