The governor of the Public Investment Fund said during a virtual event that the fund plans to announce its first sustainability-linked green bond issuance soon.

“We will be the first sovereign wealth fund in the world to announce this green issuance,” said Governor Yasser Al-Rumayyan at an event held yesterday, Tuesday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

In July, Reuters reported that the Public Investment Fund had sent a request to banks to submit proposals for establishing a framework for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issuances. This month, the Public Investment Fund appointed the banks as members of the environmental, social, and corporate governance committee for its medium-term capital-raising strategy, according to IFR News.

Al-Ramayan said that the Public Investment Fund had been working with BlackRock on the ESG framework.

He stated: “We are working with numerous partners from around the world, both locally and internationally, to achieve better compliance with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles in everything we do.”

Banking sources previously told Reuters that the creation of an ESG framework for the Public Investment Fund could lead to the issuance of billions of dollars in sustainability-linked bonds for the first time this year.

Saudi Arabia has seen growing interest in initiatives related to environmental, social, and corporate governance, amid rising awareness among global investors.

The Public Investment Fund signed a $15 billion loan agreement with a large group of banks in March, following a $10 billion loan obtained in 2019 that was repaid last year, and an $11 billion facility in 2018.

The Red Sea Development Company, one of the companies owned by the Public Investment Fund, secured a $3.8 billion green loan earlier this year for new hotels powered by renewable energy, and is building a new beach resort in the Kingdom.

Al-Rumayyan said that Saudi Arabia will announce its “Green Initiative” next month, followed by the ”Middle East Green Initiative,” which includes planting 50 billion trees.