Caja Cusco completed the issuance of its first Sustainable Bond in December 2025, establishing what is described as a landmark transaction for Peru's cooperative financial sector. The bond was supported by an investment from the LAGreen Fund, a Luxembourg-based vehicle backed by the European Union and the German development bank KfW, which also provided technical assistance to help Caja Cusco develop the Sustainable Bond Framework underpinning the issuance.
The transaction is notable as the first sustainable bond issued by a savings and credit cooperative in Peru, a distinction that extends the reach of sustainable finance instruments into a segment of the financial system that has historically had limited access to international capital market formats. Savings and credit cooperatives serve significant segments of Peru's population, particularly in smaller cities and rural areas, meaning the deployment of sustainably labelled bond proceeds can have an outsized impact relative to transaction size.
FRAMEWORK COVERS GREEN, SOCIAL AND AMAZONIA CATEGORIES
The Sustainable Bond Framework developed with LAGreen's technical assistance covers a deliberately broad set of eligible categories. On the green side, the framework encompasses renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and biodiversity projects. The social categories include affordable housing, gender-related lending, and financial inclusion activities. A distinct Amazonia-focused category reflects Peru's ecological significance as a country with substantial tropical forest coverage and the financing needs associated with sustainable land use and conservation in that biome.
The inclusion of an Amazonia-specific category is a locally relevant feature that distinguishes Caja Cusco's framework from standard templates used in more developed markets. Peru's Amazon basin is one of the most biodiverse regions on earth, and financial institutions operating in areas adjacent to or within that ecosystem have a particular role to play in directing credit away from activities that contribute to deforestation and toward those that support sustainable livelihoods. By embedding this category in its framework, Caja Cusco has created a tool for channelling capital into exactly those outcomes.
LAGreen Fund's involvement goes beyond investment in this particular bond. The fund, which has deployed capital into sustainable bonds across 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries, brings a wealth of experience in helping emerging-market financial institutions structure credible sustainable finance frameworks. The technical assistance provided to Caja Cusco covered the design of the framework, including the mapping of eligible activities to international standards and the establishment of governance and reporting processes.
LAGREEN EXPANDS FOOTPRINT ACROSS REGION
LAGreen's investment in Caja Cusco's bond extends the fund's track record to another Peruvian institution and reinforces its role as a catalyst for sustainable capital market development across Latin America and the Caribbean. The fund's EU and KfW backing gives it a mandate to prioritise transactions that deliver both financial returns and measurable environmental and social benefits, consistent with European development finance principles.
For Caja Cusco, the issuance opens a new channel of funding tied to its sustainability strategy and demonstrates to regulators, clients, and partners that the cooperative is capable of meeting the standards required to access international sustainable finance markets. The successful completion of the bond in December 2025 is expected to serve as a reference point for other savings and credit cooperatives in Peru and the broader Andean region considering similar transactions.