Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) Board has approved guidelines for issuing green, social, sustainable and sustainability-linked debt instruments, effective from 27 May 2025. The guidance is intended to support sustainable debt issuance in the Kingdom while leaving existing capital market rules and procedures unchanged, with issuers still subject to the Capital Market Law and its Implementing Regulations. While the guidelines are described as guiding rather than mandatory, issuers of Saudi Riyal-denominated instruments offered through public or private placement in Saudi Arabia must disclose any non-compliance with the guidelines in the issuance framework document or the offering documents. The guidance covers debt instruments where offering proceeds finance or refinance projects delivering positive environmental and/or social impacts and defines four categories: green, social, sustainable and sustainability-linked debt instruments, distinguishing use-of-proceeds instruments (green, social and sustainable) from sustainability-linked instruments where proceeds may be used for general purposes and use of proceeds is not determinative of classification.
Saudi Arabia Capital Markets Authority 2025-05-27
Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority approves guidelines for issuing green, social, sustainable and sustainability-linked debt instruments
Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved guidelines for issuing green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked debt instruments, effective 27 May 2025. These guidelines support sustainable debt issuance without altering existing capital market rules, requiring issuers to disclose non-compliance in offering documents. The guidance distinguishes between use-of-proceeds and sustainability-linked instruments, focusing on projects with positive environmental or social impacts.