FROM ADOPTION TO OPERATIONALIZATION: BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FINANCE SYSTEM IN UZBEKISTAN

Abstract

Sustainable finance has become one of the principal channels through which capital is redirected toward climate, environmental and social objectives: by the end of 2025 cumulative aligned issuance of green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked (GSS+) debt approached USD 6.8 trillion worldwide, with issuers from 109 countries. Uzbekistan entered this market unusually early relative to its stage of capital-market development. The Strategy for the Transition to a Green Economy for 2019–2030 (PP-4477) was followed by the first sovereign SDG bond in July 2021 – a UZS 2.5 trillion tranche (about USD 235 million) with a three-year maturity and a 14 percent coupon – and by UZS 4.25 trillion of sovereign green Eurobonds in October 2023, the first green sovereign issue in national currency among CIS governments. Further sovereign SDG issuance in May 2024, a EUR 500 million sovereign green bond in February 2025 and the USD 400 million plus UZS 2.25 trillion sustainability bond of Sanoat Qurilish Bank in July 2024 extended this record.