Second Party Opinions and External Reviews

Our assessments provide both issuers and investors with credible ESG information and ensure a transparent assessment of the quality of green and sustainable bonds and loans. Our expert team is based in France, Germany and Spain, and we interact with our clients and deliver our reports in English, French, German, and Spanish.

High-Quality Assessments of Sustainable Debt Instruments

We provide issuers and borrowers of sustainable debt instruments with independent opinions on their ESG commitments for Green, Social, Sustainable Bonds and Loans or Sustainability-Linked Bonds and Loans. Our Second Party Opinions (SPOs) allow issuers and borrowers to strengthen the transparency and robustness of their ESG debt frameworks, by providing investors and lenders with an independent expert assessment.

We assess both Use of Proceed and Sustainability-linked debt format by evaluating how the ESG financing frameworks align with ICMA (International Capital Market Association) and LMA (Loan Market Association) sustainability principles. In addition to SPOs, we carry out post-issuance KPI performance certification and verifications of allocation and impact.

All types of debt issuers entrust us with the assessment of their debt instruments and frameworks:

Small, mid-sized and large corporates,
Sovereigns, supranationals, government agencies and state-owned corporates
Financial institutions.

The combined expertise from imug rating, acquired in 2023, and EthiFinance has allowed us to build a team of experts in corporate sustainability and sustainable finance with a proven track-record of assessing sustainable debt instruments, their alignment with different sustainability principles and standards and their concrete environmental and social impact.

Our Sustainable Finance teams are based in our European offices (France, Germany and Spain) and communicate, manage projects and deliver reports in English, French, German, and Spanish. Translation of reports into other languages is also proposed.

EU Green Bond External Reviews

The European Green Bond Standard is a voluntary framework designed to enhance the transparency and credibility of green bonds issued within the European Union. It aims to support the transition to a sustainable economy by ensuring that funds raised are allocated to projects that align with the EU taxonomy for environmentally sustainable activities.

All EU Green Bond issuers must use an external reviewer to assess their compliance with the requirements of the European Green Bonds Regulation.EthiFinance has notified ESMA and can therefore act as EU Green Bond External Reviewer during the transitional period until the regulation comes into full force and external reviewers will need to be accredited by ESMA in June 2026. EthiFinance supports EU Green Bond issuers with both pre-issuance review of European Green Bond factsheet and post-issuance review of allocation and impact reports.

EU GB External Review Methodology

Find out more about how we conduct EU GB external reviews.

Client benefits

Broad client base

Since the launch of our SPO services in 2018, we have delivered close to 100* SPOs across the European market for a broad scope of clients (both private and public).

European analyst team

Our ESG analyst team of more than 25 experts* experts is based in our offices throughout Europe (France, Germany and Spain), delivering SPOs in English, French, German and Spanish.

Variety of debt instruments

Our clients trust us for our wide-ranging experience in completing SPO assignments for sustainability debt instruments (Bonds, Loans, Commercial Paper, Securitization) both under Use of Proceeds and Sustainability-linked formats.

Flexible and adaptable offer

Our clients appreciate our availability, flexibility and our proximity to their markets.

*As of May 2024

Our Published SPOs

Go to the list

Contact Our Experts

Lotta Marchal

Head of Corporate Sales
Europe

+33 6 70 99 90 92 lotta.marchal@ethifinance.com

Maria Cristina Romero Medina

Head of Sustainable Finance
Spain & Portugal

+34 6 99 78 48 95 maria.romero@ethifinance.com

Christophe Huet

Senior Sales Director
DACH Region

+49 511 999987-91 christophe.huet@ethifinance.com

Methodologies

At EthiFinance, we deliver Second Party Opinions grounded in a rigorous and transparent methodology. Each SPO is built around three key analytical pillars designed to ensure a comprehensive and independent assessment of sustainable finance instrument frameworks:

Issuer ESG Assessment
We evaluate the issuer’s sustainability profile by examining its strategic alignment with sustainability objectives and the strength of its ESG risk management policies. This provides essential context on the issuer’s overall commitment to sustainable practices.

Alignment with Market Principles
We assess the alignment of the financing framework with international standards. For Use of Proceeds Instruments, this includes the ICMA or LMA principles covering Use of Proceeds, Project Evaluation, Proceeds Management, and Reporting. For Sustainability-Linked Instruments, we review KPIs, Sustainability Performance Targets (SPTs), Instrument Characteristics, Reporting, and Verification.

Expected Impact
We assess the potential contribution of the financing instrument to environmental and/or social objectives.
For Use of Proceeds Instruments, we examine the materiality and ambition of the projects being financed—looking at how significantly the projects address sustainability challenges, the scale of expected benefits, and their alignment with strategic goals such as climate action, biodiversity protection, or social equity. For Sustainability-Linked Instruments, the focus shifts to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Sustainability Performance Targets (SPTs). We evaluate whether the selected KPIs represent core, measurable sustainability issues for the issuer and whether the SPTs are ambitious enough to drive genuine performance improvement over time.

Through this lens, EthiFinance ensures that each SPO captures the real-world impact potential of the financing initiative—not just its alignment with standards, but its capacity to deliver meaningful, positive change.