Second Party Opinions

Second Party Opinions (SPOs), provided by S&P Global Ratings, help companies provide investors with greater insight into how their investments will impact and align with environmental, social and sustainability goals.

In December 2022, S&P Global acquired the Shades of Green business from CICERO, further expanding the breadth and depth of our SPO offering. We are currently working to combine the best of both companies’ methodologies to deliver a suite of SPOs that deliver robust analysis, transparency, and continues to be the reference for high quality in the market.*

Shades of Green have been championing SPOs in the global green financing market since 2008 after publishing the very first SPO on the World Bank’s Green bond framework and remain the largest external reviewer by volume globally. At the heart of all their SPOs is the multi-award-winning Shades of Green methodology, which assigns shadings to investments and activities to reflect the extent to which they contribute to the transition to a low carbon and climate resilient future.

Second Party Opinion options include:

• Second Party Opinion (SPO) - Use of Proceeds Financing: Assesses a sustainable finance framework or transaction – where the proceeds will be used exclusively to finance or refinance environmental or social projects – for alignment with third-party principles, standards, and taxonomies. We offer three types of Use of Proceeds SPOs: green, social, and sustainability SPOs.
• Second Party Opinion (SPO) - Sustainability Linked Financing: Assesses a sustainable finance framework or transaction – where the proceeds will be used for public finance purposes – for alignment with third-party principles and guidelines.

*As of March 2023.