The World Bank, through its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), launched a Sustainable Development Bond to raise awareness and finance for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality (SDG 5). 

World Bank Sustainable Development Bonds support the financing of sustainable development projects and programs across various development sectors in member countries. These projects are designed to close the gender gap in education and health, remove constraints for more and better jobs, eliminate barriers to women’s ownership and control of assets, and enable women’s voice and agency. 

Women’s empowerment is an “exceptionally powerful” engine of economic growth.

Treehouse Investments LLC was the sole investor in the US$5 million, five-year callable bond, which was launched on 5 November 2019. Raoul Slavin Juliá, Director, Treehouse Investments LLC, explained the decision to invest in an SDG 5 bond, noting that women’s empowerment is an “exceptionally powerful” engine of economic growth and “the most cost-effective means of combating climate change.” 

Previously, the World Bank launched an SDG 5 bond with Impax Asset Management. [World Bank Press Release]