(4 August 2026 – UAE) Emirates NBD issued its inaugural blue bond in early 2026, marking a significant milestone for sustainable finance in the Middle East amid growing investor appetite and rapid evolution of the instrument in the region, Environmental Finance reports.
Environmental Finance highlights key findings from the bank’s first blue bond impact report including what the group has learned, what investors can expect and future issuance plans.
Emirates NBD issued a landmark US$1 billion dual-tranche sustainable bond in January 2026, featuring a US$300 million Blue bond tranche and a US$700 million Green bond tranche aimed at addressing regional water scarcity and marine protection.
“One of the key challenges remains data availability. Compared with green finance, water-related metrics and taxonomies continue to evolve, making outcomes more difficult to measure consistently across sectors. Our inaugural blue labelled issuance demonstrated that blue finance is evolving beyond a niche concept into an increasingly scalable asset class. We’ve seen strong interest from both investors and clients for labelled blue financing” commented Emirates NBD Sustainable Finance Manager, Carmen Mutu.
“Blue finance remains at an early stage of development, similar to where green finance was several years ago. Guidance from organisations such as the International Finance Corporation continues to play an important role in establishing market standards and best practice.”
“Transparency will be at the heart of our inaugural blue bond impact report. Building on the approach established through our green bond reporting, we’re allocating proceeds to eligible assets and measuring meaningful environmental outcomes using recognised metrics, such as wastewater treated, amongst others, while continuing to strengthen our data quality and reporting practices as the market evolves.”
“As the market evolves, we expect blue finance to become an increasingly important component of our sustainable finance offering alongside green, social, sustainability-linked and transition finance.