The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), aligned with its Strategy 2030 to invest in growing sustainable finance in Dubai, has published its Sustainable Finance Framework.
“The DIFC is the first global financial center in the region to publish its Sustainable Finance Framework,” a press release read.
“The framework, published in September 2023 with a positive second-party opinion review by S&P Global Ratings, sets out fundraising principles for investments in its environmental and social projects that enable sustainable business operations.”
Standard Chartered Bank also provided guidance on the development of the framework, which is expected to help raise capital for impact-driven and sustainable projects in and within the center.
The DIFC continues to support the growth of the sustainable debt market; as at September 2023, the center’s NASDAQ Dubai is the largest ESG Sukuk market in the world, it said in a statement. It accounts for approximately 64% of the world’s US dollar-denominated sustainable Sukuk (US$16.4 billion out of US$25.8 billion), and 46% of the world’s all-currencies sustainable Sukuk (US$17.5 billion out of US$38.3 billion).
The new framework is in line with the DIFC’s range of sustainability programs supporting its net-zero goals, including its chairmanship of the Dubai Sustainable Finance Working Group established in 2019.
The UAE is currently preparing to host this year’s Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28.