Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) necessitates a substantial scaling up of finance and investment. Sovereign SDG bonds are a subset of thematic bonds that are anchored in the SDGs and can help governments finance their sustainable development priorities.

The GISD Alliance, under the leadership of UNDESA and UNDP, have developed the below integrated guidance for the benefit of the global financial community interested in these instruments.

The guidance provides a summary of developing country experiences of issuing SDG bonds gleaned through interviews with country representatives and the private sector, a survey on investor preferences, in-depth case studies on countries that have issued SDG bonds, and an expert group consultation. Based on this research, the guidance considers the benefits, challenges and lessons learnt when issuing sovereign SDG bonds.