Potential Growth and Future Trends of Green Sukuk

Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (ICPSD) is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) global policy center established based on the Partnership Framework Agreement signed between the Government of the Republic of Türkiye and the UNDP in March 2011. The Center supports UNDP’s global work on the private sector and foundations to become transformative partners in development through research, advocacy for inclusive business, facilitation of public-private dialogue, and multi-stakeholder partnerships. As one of UNDP’s five global thematic centers, ICPSD also has a global mandate to lead UNDP’s Islamic Finance Portfolio and supports the UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) by leading UNDP’s strategic offer to partner and work with the private sector.

The Center is advocating and facilitating the contribution of the private sector to human development and inclusive growth through the following thematic priority areas:

§  Private Sector Engagement through South-South Cooperation for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

§  Private Sector Engagement in Skills Development

§  Impact Investing

§  Resilience and Crisis Response

Under its Impact Investing thematic area, ICPSD and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) established the Global Islamic Finance and Impact Investing Platform (GIFIIP) in 2016 to position Islamic finance and impact investing as leading enablers of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) implementation around the world. Bringing together the private sector, governments, and key stakeholders operating in the Islamic finance and impact investing markets, the Platform aims to promote market-based solutions to sustainable development challenges. It focuses on enabling the private sector, using Islamic finance in tandem with impact investing to achieve SDGs on a global scale.

Recognizing that the principles of Islamic finance and impact investing, with their rigorous moral and social criteria, their emphasis on inclusiveness and broader understanding of business-society relations, complement each other, GIFIIP holds several capacity-building initiatives in different regions and provides technical assistance to government bodies, private sector, and financial institutions.

In 2018, UNDP ICPSD launched the Green Sukuk Initiative under GIFIIP in partnership with the Securities Commission (SC) of Malaysia and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) of IsDB. The Green Sukuk Initiative aims at three goals:

§  Facilitating access to financing for green energy projects in developing countries and globally,

§  Providing financial solutions to environmental challenges, and

§  Expanding the role of Islamic finance in achieving the SDGs

To expand the initiative and replicate it in other countries, UNDP ICPSD and the Islamic Financial Sector Development Department (IFSD) of IsDB collaborated with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) of IsDB. Since then, the Initiative has been supporting numerous countries, including Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

Green Sukuk presents a unique intersection of Islamic finance and sustainability, making it a potentially significant growth driver in both sectors. It has the potential to become a vital component of Islamic finance, attracting investors looking for ethically responsible investment opportunities. Green Sukuk’s capacity to align with SDGs positions it as a catalyst for achieving global sustainability objectives. With increasing environmental consciousness in Islamic finance, understanding the future trends of Green Sukuk is essential.

In this context, UNDP is undertaking a research and knowledge project titled “Potential Growth and Future Trends of Green Sukuk as a Tool for Sustainable Financing” with the Kuwait UNDP Country Office and Kuwait Finance House (KFH) and organize a “Validation Workshop”. The research study is intended to become a knowledge product with a wide scope of beneficiaries within the Islamic finance and capital market sector as well as sustainable finance and development sector.

This project will be executed by UNDP ICPSD. Possible partnerships with Islamic financial institutions, and development partners/banks are currently under consideration including but not limited to the IsDB, KFH and KFH’s subsidiary, Kuwait Turk Participation Bank (Turkiye), General Counsel for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI)

Thank you and we look forward to receiving your proposal.