How much of sustainable financing is actually green?

At the HD magazine panel during Aquatherm Almaty, held in September, Aldiyar Kamalkhanov presented the KASE lineup of instruments. It helps clarify what obligations the issuer assumes and what exactly the funds are directed toward.

Green bonds are intended to finance environmental projects in the areas of water resources, energy efficiency, renewable energy and waste recycling. Social issues support housing, healthcare, education and basic infrastructure. Mixed bonds combine environmental and social directions.

A separate instrument is sustainability-linked bonds. In these, the issuer assumes obligations on specific indicators, for example on reducing emissions or resource consumption. This differs from an issue where funds are designated for specific projects in advance.

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Issuer obligations

A bond remains a loan: the issuer raises investors' money and is obliged to return it on established terms. An environmental label does not replace an assessment of the company's solvency and does not guarantee achievement of the stated effect.

Before issuing, the issuer describes which projects the funds will go to, how they will be selected and by which indicators the result will be assessed. The framework policy is reviewed by an independent organization. After placement, information on the use of funds and fulfillment of stated obligations is disclosed.

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KASE provides the rules for admission to trading and information disclosure. An independent assessor verifies the issue's compliance with the stated principles, while the investor separately assesses financial risk. Data on issues and reporting are available on the KASE sustainable financing platform.

For construction and urban projects, this sequence has practical significance. If a loan is raised for a water-saving system, stormwater management or energy-efficient modernization, the issue must allocate the corresponding expenses and determine in advance how the result will be measured. The project name itself does not determine the type of financing.

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Opportunities for small business

The presentation also featured the KASE SME Qadam Bonds program. It has been in effect since January 2026 and is intended for small and medium-sized businesses in the real sector. This is a general channel for raising market financing, not a special green bond program.

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For a company developing solutions in water conservation, energy efficiency or waste recycling, the program can become one of the ways to raise capital. But the environmental category of the issue will have to be justified separately, and the ability to service debt confirmed by a financial model.

For a city and a developer, not only the overall size of the sustainable bonds market matters. It is necessary to understand who issues them, which project receives the money and what confirms the result.

Material prepared in partnership with Aquatherm