Stephanie von Friedeburg, senior vice president of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), welcomed The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) as a new signatory during his meeting with Chairman Bang Moon-Kyu of Korea Eximbank on Nov. 2 (local time) in Glasgow, where the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference was taking place.
Korea Eximbank will apply the Impact Principles to its assets aligned with its ESG bonds. ESG Bonds refer to special purpose bonds that allocate net proceeds to green and social projects.
Launched by the IFC and other impact investors in April 2019, the Impact Principles bring much-needed discipline, transparency, and credibility to the impact investing market.
They require signatories to assess and monitor not only their financial returns, but the progress of their investments in achieving environmental and social impacts.
By Nov. 3, over 100 investors including development financial institutions (DFIs), commercial banks and asset owners became signatories to the Impact Principles.
“I hope that adoption of the Operating Principles for Impact Management can contribute to reinforcing Korea Eximbank’s ESG management, and achieving the UN SDGs,” Chairman Bang said during the meeting.
The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.
They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs, including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.
Korea Eximbank announced ‘ESG Management Roadmap’ for the first time as a state lender in July. As part of the roadmap, it launched the “ESG Management Department”, and plans to establish an “ESG Committee” within its board of directors.
Korea Eximbank is actively supporting projects related to the renewable energy and climate change mitigation sectors by issuing ESG Bonds, including USD 2 billion worth of Global Green Bond issued last month.
Apart from this, Chairman Bang also had bilateral meetings in Glasgow with MDBs (EBRD, IDB, AfDB) and EDC (the Canadian ECA) that participated in the COP 26.
During the meetings, Bang had discussions about co-financing for ‘Green Industries’ including renewable energy and hydrogen and cooperation for climate change response.
In the meantime, Korea Eximbank announced on Nov. 5 that it will participate in international cooperation to support the Colombian government's response to climate change through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF).
Korea Eximbank has been entrusted by the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance to operate and manage the economic aid fund for developing countries since 1987.
It provides long-term low-interest loans to support industrial development and economic stability in developing countries, and promotes economic exchanges between developing countries and Korea.
On Nov. 2, Bang Moon-kyu met with representatives of cooperative financial institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), AfD (France), KfW (Germany) and SIDA (Sweden) in Glasgow of the United Kingdom where the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) was being held.
He signed the Colombia Sustainable and Resilient Growth Program Agreement.
The program supports the improvement of 10 policy tasks to strengthen Colombia's climate change response plan and financing, sustainable utilization of forest resources, energy conversion centered on renewable energy, and the spread of low-carbon vehicle technology.
Colombia announced its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) at COP26 from 20 percent to 51 percent by 2030.
Six development banks will provide a total of $1.2 billion worth of aid funds to Colombia to jointly cope with international climate change issues, of which Korea Eximbank plans to provide $100 million to Colombia through the EDCF.
“Colombia was the only Latin American country participated in the Korean War”, Bang said during the signing ceremony. “We will expand our cooperation base in areas such as climate change responses and sustainable growth.”
Meanwhile, Korea Eximbank provided $80 million in EDCF loans to Colombia to strengthen its digital economy and ICT capabilities and provided $120 million in project financing for the construction of the Bogota Bus Rapid Transit in Colombia.
_수출입은행 IFC 주도 임팩트 투자 원칙.jpg)
