Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in Inaugural Sustainability-Linked Loan Financing

Cleary Gottlieb represented the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in its inaugural sustainability-linked loan financing arranged by Standard Chartered Bank, partially guaranteed by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and benefiting from a second-loss guarantee from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).

Côte d’Ivoire published a sustainability-linked financing framework (SLF framework) in July 2025 as part of its sustainable development strategy and its national development plan for 2021-2025. This SLF framework lays out Côte d’Ivoire’s sustainable strategic priorities and sets targets for two key performance indicators (KPIs) in the energy and forestry sectors, aiming at diversifying the country’s electricity mix by increasing non-conventional renewable energy generation, combating de-forestation and increasing re-forestation.

The €433 million sustainability-linked facility provides for interest rate adjustment depending on whether Côte d’Ivoire exceeds its sustainable targets, as measured by the KPIs.

Côte d’Ivoire is the first African country to adopt a SLF framework, and this transaction is also the first financing using a combination of policy-based guarantees from both IBRD and MIGA, under a first loss/second-loss structure.

The signing of the facility agreement took place on August 15, 2025, and the drawdown took place on August 27, 2025.

For more information, please see the press release.