Azerbaijan to unveil sustainable investment standards at COP29

BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan as host of COP29 U.N. climate talks will this month launch a set of standards agreed by more than 100 countries to guide sustainable investment, the country's central bank governor said on Friday.

Climate finance taxonomies are needed to ensure investments are effective in reducing emissions, but investors are concerned the number of differing rule books causes confusion.

The 27-member European Union has delivered one of the most significant, but a U.N. taxonomy could have even wider backing.

"We have developed new unified taxonomy principles together with 110 countries. These principles will be applied in developing national taxonomies, simplifying the process of issuing green loans," Central Bank Governor Taleh Kazimov told a news conference on Friday.

Azerbaijan hosts U.N. climate talks from Nov. 11-22.

On Nov. 14, Kazimov said Azerbaijan will announce the amount of funds it will allocate for green projects until 2030.

Zakir Nuriyev, head of the Association of Banks of Azerbaijan, said the figure would correspond to the total loan portfolio of Azerbaijani banks, which exceeds $15 billion.

In addition to the rules on sustainable financing, Governor Kazimov said that the Central Bank was considering the introduction of Islamic sukuk bonds.

He said legislation was being prepared and the bank was analysing the market to see if there was sufficient demand.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; editing by Barbara Lewis)