About Blu-X

Leveraging Sustainable Finance for the Impact Economy

Blu-X is a regional listing and trading platform for sustainable and inclusive financial instruments geared towards sustainable economy (including blue bonds, green bonds, social bonds, sustainability bonds, among others). It aims to facilitate investments in public and private financial instruments to capitalize innovative projects focused on sustainable economy, with particular emphasis on the blue economy, as well as unlock financing for high-growth, high-impact interventions and support Cabo Verde's integration in regional and international markets.

The Blu-X platform will connect issuers and investors in sustainable bonds, as well as support public-private partnerships, including debt-for-nature swaps.

Blu-X seeks to strengthen Cabo Verde's position as an inter-regional, if not global, pivot. The platform aims to serve not only the market capitalization needs of Cabo Verde, but also of the African and Atlantic regions in general. Through Cabo Verde's membership in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), as well as its privileged access to the United States and European Union markets, the platform seeks to attract new market participants, ranging from impact investors and brokers to fund managers, SMEs and entrepreneurs.

Concept Note

Blu-X as a catalyst for SDG acceleration

This project arises as part of strategic initiatives for sustainable development and the partnership between the Cabo Verde Stock Exchange (BVC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Cabo Verde, aiming to produce a platform for intermediation between demand and supply of sustainable securities, in order to attract investment and resources for strategic sustainable development goals, mainly for the blue economy as a catalyst for accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The experience of the birth of the sustainable market in Cabo Verde, the context, the bases, the conditions that favored this initiative and the partnership between BVC and UNDP, the potential impact on the blue economy and the emergence of this solution were transposed in an article published in the UNDP network, aiming to contribute to a similar approach in other areas, particularly how capital markets, even the smallest ones, such as the one in Cabo Verde, can contribute to the structural transformation of countries, integrated into the development of national
strategic plans and part of the global sustainable development solution network.

Policy Brief – Blue
Economy

The partnership with UNDP has enabled partnerships with other national and international partners that share a common concern for the environment, namely the Luxembourg Stock Exchange – Luxembourg Green Exchange, with whom the Cabo Verde Stock Exchange signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the area of sustainable financing, aiming at mentoring and knowledge exchange, capacity building, training, access to markets, among others.

BVC also signed an agreement with the Universidade Técnica do Atlântico, which prepared a feasibility study on the implementation of blue taxonomy in Cabo Verde which, in turn, resulted in the preparation of standards for Issuing Blue Bonds in Cabo Verde and respective blue taxonomy.

More strategically, through the management of the Trust Fund for Capital Market Development, the African Development Bank, who is also a partner of the Cabo Verde Stock Exchange, provided BVC with funding aiming to equip the country with its first capital market Master Plan, as well as a technological infrastructure that stimulates the liquidity of the secondary securities market. The sustainable securities market will inevitably be part of this Master Plan.

In order to increase the Blu-X platform’s visibility, the Cabo Verde Stock Exchange joined the Ocean Race, with Cabo Verde having been chosen to host one of the stopovers of the Ocean Race’s14th edition. This is a unique opportunity to promote the Cabo Verde Stock Exchange and the Blu-X platform.

BVC & UNDP: A SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP

The sustainable development challenges, the impact of Covid-19 on the economy and the need for solutions to facilitate investments in financial instruments geared towards capitalization of innovative and sustainable projects in the blue economy were at the origin of the partnership between the Cabo Verde Stock Exchange and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This partnership resulted in a technological and market solution platform called the Blu-X platform, which aims, not only to mitigate the internal vulnerabilities of a small island developing state (SIDS), but fundamentally contribute to enhance financial autonomy and resilience to external economic shocks.

As a result, on the one hand, of the strategic exercise of thinking Cabo Verde "Ambition 2030" and subsequent Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development (PEDS) - which maps the catalytic potential in various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, on the other hand, the National Integrated Financing Framework (INFF) for sustainable development, the Blu-X platform was identified as an innovative solution with the potential to contribute to the mobilization of sustainable resources for financing the economy on a national, regional and even international scale.

In order to materialize this solution, on March 17, 2021, BVC and UNDP signed the first Letter of Agreement (LOA).

The results of this partnership are visible, with sustainable issues for public and private entities totaling approximately USD 27 million.

Given the results of the first financing agreement and aiming to consolidate the gains achieved, BVC and UNDP signed a second agreement, on September 28, 2022.

LOA I – Letter of Aggrement I  LOA II – Letter of Aggrement II 

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Endereço

Achada de Santo Antonio | Rua Largo Europa | C.P 115/A | Praia
bvc@bvc.cv
(+238) 260 30 30
www.bvc.cv

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