Sustainable Fitch has provided its Second-Party Opinion on Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC’s (CBC) sustainable bond framework. We consider transactions under the sustainable bond framework to be fully aligned with the ICMA Green Bond Principles, Social Bond Principles and the Sustainability Bond Guidelines. Our Second-Party Opinion is that the alignment is ‘Good’.

CBC is Sri Lanka’s largest private commercial bank and offers a range of financial services and products to individuals, SMEs and large corporate entities. The bank’s business activities encompass personal banking; corporate banking; treasury operations; and non-bank financial institutions, real estate and services.

Eligible green projects under CBC’s framework include renewable energy; green buildings; clean transportation; environmentally sustainable management of living resources and land use; sustainable water and wastewater management; climate change adaptation; energy efficiency; pollution prevention and control; and circular-economy-adapted products, production technologies and processes. The described green UoP categories are eligible under the Sri Lanka green finance taxonomy, although not all projects will be fully aligned with international sustainable finance taxonomies, such as the EU taxonomy and Climate Bonds Initiative criteria.

Eligible social projects include affordable basic infrastructure, access to essential services, assistance for housing needs, employment generation and unemployment alleviation, and food security and sustainable food systems. Social projects are targeted at low- to moderate-income individuals and families as defined by the Sri Lanka Department of Census and Statistics.

The uses of proceeds under this framework will support CBC’s sustainability strategy and Sri Lanka’s nationally determined contribution to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.