Itaú Unibanco published its Sustainable Finance Framework in April 2024, a document that establishes the eligibility criteria and governance arrangements underpinning the Brazilian lender's labelled bond and loan issuances, and which received a Second Party Opinion from Sustainalytics confirming its alignment with the principal international standards governing green, social, and sustainability instruments across both the bond and loan markets.
The framework covers 15 use-of-proceeds categories, expanding on previous versions and introducing a new Blue Economy designation aligned with the International Finance Corporation's Blue Finance guidelines. The addition signals Itaú's intent to be eligible to issue blue bonds — instruments directing proceeds towards ocean and freshwater-related projects — alongside its existing green and social issuance activity, positioning the bank to participate in an emerging segment of the sustainable capital markets.
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT AND INDEPENDENT REVIEW
Sustainalytics' Second Party Opinion confirmed the framework's conformance with the International Capital Market Association's Green Bond Principles 2021 and Social Bond Principles 2023, as well as the Green Loan Principles 2023 and Social Loan Principles 2023 maintained jointly by the Loan Market Association and its international counterparts. The breadth of standards coverage is intended to give investors across multiple instrument types — bonds, green loans, social loans — confidence that proceeds are directed in accordance with recognised market conventions, reducing the due-diligence burden for international asset managers.
Itaú Unibanco is one of four banks globally to hold Climate Bond Certification from the Climate Bonds Initiative, a distinction that the new framework is designed to support and extend. The bank has also made a public commitment to deforestation-free financing for projects in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes, two of Brazil's most ecologically sensitive regions, and those commitments are reflected in the framework's eligibility criteria and exclusion lists, providing investors with a degree of sector-level assurance that the bank's sustainable finance instruments do not inadvertently support activities associated with deforestation.
By the time of the framework's publication, Itaú had mobilised more than BRL 400 billion in sustainable finance under its programme, a cumulative figure that encompasses green and social lending, labelled bond issuances, and structured products directed at eligible categories within its frameworks. That scale of mobilisation positions Itaú among the largest sustainable finance providers in Latin America by volume and gives the updated framework a large existing base of eligible assets from which to draw.
NET-ZERO COMMITMENT RETAINED AMID NZBA CONTEXT
The framework's publication came against a backdrop of evolving global bank commitments on climate and net-zero targets. Itaú had been a member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, and the framework reaffirms the bank's commitment to achieving net-zero emissions across Scope 1, 2, and 3 by 2050, signalling that its decarbonisation strategy is embedded in product design and client engagement rather than being limited to corporate pledges at the entity level.
The updated framework provides the institutional infrastructure for Itaú to continue and expand its issuance of labelled instruments in international capital markets, including the euro-denominated market where demand from European asset managers and insurance companies for credibly structured ESG bonds has remained robust. The combination of a broad eligible category set, multi-standard alignment, and a strong Sustainalytics endorsement is designed to support distribution of future issuances across a diverse global investor base.