Outlining Our Sustainable Finance External Reviewer Services

Secure market confidence in your green, social and sustainability-linked loans and bonds with independent Second Party Opinion (SPO) services from SGS.

Assurance that your green, social or sustainability-linked framework aligns with market expectations is crucial to the issuance and drawdown process for sustainable finance transactions. Our comprehensive SPO services provide assurance through independent evaluation and verification, aligning your efforts with global sustainability principles and ensuring your transactions meet investor and market expectations.

Our solutions: comprehensive support for sustainable finance frameworks

We independently assess your framework against global principles, including:

• Green Bond Principles (GBP) ICMA*
• Green Loan Principles (GLP) APLMA, LMA and LSTA
• Social Bond Principles (SBP) ICMA*
• Social Loan Principles (SLP) APLMA, LMA and LSTA
• Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (SLBP) ICMA*
  *We are a listed external reviewer
• Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles (SLLP) APLMA, LMA and LSTA
• Climate Bond Initiative (CBI) Standards**
  **We are a listed external reviewer

External verification

Our external verification extends across assurance, post-issuance verification, impact reporting and more, catering to a broad spectrum of bonds and loans. We also comply with local and regional principles and confirm that all external verification aligns with market practices and investment community expectations.

Thorough SPO and post-verification services

Our SPO service delves into your selection process, framework alignment and reporting compliance, providing essential recommendations to enhance your sustainability strategy. Through our post-verification service, for use of proceeds transactions, we offer clarity on fund allocation and the issuer’s actions to align with principles. You can be confident that our assurance statements determine that the selected project/use of proceeds aligns with annual post-verification principles.

For instances requiring physical validation, our global network enables field/site visits to verify the physical ground truth requirements. Additionally, our proficiency in evaluating quality management systems (QMS) through ISO standards and beyond ensures your operations meet the highest sustainability performance standards.

Gain transparent SPOs to meet global standards and investor expectations

We support you throughout the entire process, enabling you to:

• Raise awareness of environmental and social issues
• Satisfy and surpass investor and lender demands
• Increase investor and lender confidence
• Expand your base of issuers and lenders
• Align with and exceed market expectations
• Precisely understand and measure impacts, KPIs and sustainability targets

Harness decades of sustainability experience

With over 30 years of sustainability experience, our global network of experts combines sector-specific knowledge with extensive expertise in ESG rating, sustainable finance and environmental sciences. Our commitment to analytical precision, global coverage and transparency ensures you receive independent and assured SPOs, fostering trust among investors and lenders.

Ready for external verification from a sustainability leader? Contact us today to discuss your sustainable finance requirements.