The Just Transition GSS+ Bond Community of Practice

Download the Market Statement

The opportunity – and the gap

The labelled bond market is one of the great success stories of sustainable finance – reaching nearly US$7 trillion in cumulative issuance in 2025.^* Green bonds dominate total issuance within this market, providing compelling evidence that climate action has gained a foothold in global financial systems.

But we must also ensure the transition to a low-carbon, green economy happens in a just and fair manner. The transition to low-carbon economies will cause significant disruption to labour markets and communities. To avoid the risk of stranded workers and stranded communities, it is essential the tools we use to finance the transition reflect the principles of justice and inclusion. 

But despite growing national commitments to just transition, for example in nationally determined contributions (NDCs), there are few examples of just transition considerations informing how bond proceeds are spent, or what impact is reported.

Just transition remains far from a mainstream feature of the market today, but this need not be the case: GSS+ bonds hold great potential to advance just transition outcomes. The scale of the bond market is immense, and the ability of GSS+ bonds to direct capital towards specific projects and hold issuers accountable for impact provides actionable leverage points for investors.

The opportunity to close the gap

Green and social bonds have followed the arc of pioneering issuance, then practical guidance, then formal standards (see Figure below). Just transition action is at that same early, decisive stage. But for pioneering issuance, there is a need for instrument-level guidance on what qualifies as just transition-related expenditure and reporting.

By November 2026, the Community of Practice will provide the GSS+ bond market with the following toolkit to move from intent to issuance. The delivery of this toolkit will be stress-tested with market practitioners and industry experts to embed the right just transition guardrails and ensure the outputs are credible, usable and grounded in the realities of affected workers and communities.

1. Position paper: Recommendations for credible just transition integration across bond types, with illustrative case studies.
2. Actionable templates: Examples of potential use-of-proceeds and reporting mechanisms that align sufficiently with just transition objectives for different categories of labelled bonds. This will include hypothetical sector-specific examples that inform primary issuance.
3. Call to issuance: A launch statement committing issuers, investors and underwriters to pioneer transactions in 2027.

The Community of Practice

Convened by the Just Transition Finance Lab and 103 Ventures, the Community of Practice brings together organisations across the sustainable finance ecosystem, including multilateral development banks, corporate and sovereign issuers, standard-setters, investor bodies and labour and human rights organisations needed to move from concept to issuance of pioneering just transition integrated GSS+ bonds.

Our participating members include Asia Investor Group on Climate Change(AIGCC), Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC), Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), Impact Investing Institute (III), International Labour Organization (ILO), The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), United Nations Environment – Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) — alongside issuers, investors, underwriters, and community voices.

Our call to action

The Market Statement is our public signal that the market is ready to move, to make visible what has been implicit: that a critical mass of market actors believes just transition integration is achievable and investable.

Download the Market Statement

————————–

*Source: Climate Bonds Initiative, 2026