Ecobank has raised $450 million through what it calls the world’s first nature bond issued by a commercial bank, in a deal to channel capital into protecting Africa’s ecosystems.
The pan-African lender listed the bond on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on June 2. It carries the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) nature bond designation and earned Moody’s highest sustainability quality score, SQS1, which Ecobank says makes it the first commercial bank globally to issue such an instrument.
Demand outstripped supply. The orderbook topped $1.36 billion, about 3.9 times the original $350 million target, allowing Ecobank to lift the size by $100 million and tighten pricing by 50 basis points. Both international and African investors took part.
The proceeds will fund smallholder farmers using sustainable methods, agri-processors with deforestation free supply chains, and water infrastructure across 24 African markets, with priority in biodiversity-rich countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Ghana. Ecobank says 81% of eligible lending goes to countries where farming-driven land use change is the main cause of biodiversity loss, and that every loan carries seven independently verified sustainability conditions.
The bank framed the bond as a response to a financing gap, noting that Africa holds about a quarter of the world’s biodiversity but draws less than 3% of global nature finance.
Group Chief Executive Jeremy Awori said investor appetite let the bank do more than planned, increasing the size and improving pricing. “This transaction is a defining moment for African sustainable finance,” he said. Group Head of Sustainability Rachael Antwi said nature finance would only scale in Africa if it stayed practical, measurable and connected to the real economy.
