Second Party Opinion

An independent assessment of how debt instruments or financing frameworks align to sustainability principles and the extent to which they are expected to contribute to long-term sustainable development


As demand continues to grow for independent analysis of sustainable financing frameworks, Moody's Ratings is here to support you. Our market-innovating Second Party Opinions (SPOs) of green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bonds and loans bring clarity to the sustainability impact of financing frameworks and instruments and their alignment to market standards.


Explore the benefits of a Second Party Opinion



Key features

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Point-in-time assessment offered on a public or private basis

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Post-Issuance Review available at request as a follow-on to the initial assessment

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Includes a Sustainability Quality Score (SQS) which speaks to the sustainability quality credentials of the framework or instrument and is expressed on a 5-point scale from SQ1 (best) to SQ5 (worst)

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Delivered through a confidential data room with a click-through NDA and may be shared with up to 150 third parties at the institutional level

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Globally available across all sectors subject to local regulations

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Evaluation of issuance or framework follows either a use-of-proceeds or sustainability-linked (KPI) approach

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Public SPOs will be published to the issuer landing page on MDC and will be available on the Sustainability Credit and Sustainable Finance topic page

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Deliverable can be translated in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Japanese


Supplementary opinions

As part of our assessment, in addition to providing the scores under our Second Party Opinion (SPO) assessment framework, Moody’s Ratings may also provide supplementary opinions of alignment with a specific framework or standard as selected by an issuer.


A classification system, established by the EU Taxonomy Regulation, which sets out clear definitions of what is an environmentally sustainable economic activity.

A voluntary standard designed to validate the legitimacy of green investments in line with the EU Taxonomy​.

Guidance on the practices, actions and disclosures to be made available by issuers when raising funds for their climate transition strategy​.

A regional standard aligned with ICMA’s Green Bond Principles with specific regional context and local engagement considerations​.

A voluntary guideline issued by Japan’s MoE¹ providing criteria for green bond issuances and procedures​.

¹ MoE – Ministry of Environment​

Taxonomy issued by GFIT2, convened by MAS3, seeks to provide financial institutions with guidance on how to identify and classify activities that can be considered green or transitioning towards green.

2 GFIT – Green Finance Industry Taskforce
3 MAS – Monetary Authority of Singapore

Voluntary guidance, based on the ICMA principles, acts as additional thematic guidance on use of proceed bonds to finance projects supporting the Sustainable Blue Economy and ocean health​.

Guidance for projects that may not be explicitly considered green but are critical to eligible green projects, encompassing both induced and avoided emissions dimensions and related environmental & social risk management.

A regional standard developed based on ICMA’s Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles to facilitate the role of sustainability-linked bonds in funding companies that contribute to sustainability​.

A Malaysian SRI framework developed by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to facilitate the creation of an ecosystem that promotes sustainable and responsible investing for SRI investors and issuers​.

A Malaysian SRI-linked framework developed by the SC to facilitate fundraising by companies, addressing sustainability concerns such as climate change or social agenda, with features that relate to their sustainability performance commitments.

A regional taxonomy developed by Mexico’s Ministry of Finance and Public Credit that seeks to facilitate financing flows and mobilization of capital towards investments in activities that contribute positively to environmental and social objectives​.

A classification framework published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)  with the aim of facilitating informed decision-making on green and sustainable finance in the local market.

The taxonomy provides a common language for green and transition finance in Australia, supporting the allocation of capital towards activities that enable Australia’s net zero ambitions.

The Green Taxonomy of Colombia (TVC) is a classification system to guide public and private investments toward environmentally sustainable activities, including those that help to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss.

Taxonomy of Environmentally Sustainable Economic Activities of Chile (T-MAS) is a classification system that seeks to provide certainty, transparency, and comparability to the markets and facilitate the transition to a more sustainable economy.

A regional standard developed based on ICMA’s Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles to facilitate the role of sustainability-linked bonds in funding companies that contribute to sustainability.

Brazilian government sponsored program created to boost sustainable private investments and attract foreign capital for long-term projects for green industry, recovery of biomes, and infrastructure for ecological transformation.


Related resources

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Clarify your proceeds’ sustainability impact and alignment to frameworks and sustainability principles

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Share detailed assessment of the sustainability credentials of your bond and loan issuance

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Assessable instrument types: Unlabeled and conventional bonds, Physical and Transition Risk Bonds, Blue Bonds, Sustainable Development Goal Bonds, Transition Bonds, etc.

Disclaimer(s):

Second Party Opinions are not subject to regulation by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Please note that a Second Party Opinion (SPO) is not a “credit rating”. Development and provision of SPOs fall under the category of “related business”, not “credit rating business”, and are not subject to regulations applicable to “credit rating business” under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan and its related regulations.”

Notes:

Moody’s Japan K.K. (“MJKK”) endorses JFSA’s Code of Conduct for Sustainability Evaluation and Data Providers
Moody’s Ratings Adherence Statement in respect of the UK Code of Conduct for Sustainability Ratings and Data Products



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