Kuala Lumpur : Muslim countries and affinity customers should tap into the green sukuk market as it is in line with the Shariah-compliant standards, said CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd Chief Executive Officer Rafe Haneef.

He said there was growing demand for green sukuk, capitalizing on projects related to environmental sustainability and green environment infrastructure projects.

“Last year, the environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks investment globally amounted to around $23 trillion and compared with the Islamic finance industry, the total size is about $2 trillion, it was 12 times higher.”

“And look at the actual demand for the ESG-compliant assets which is $45 trillion, the demand is almost double of what we have regarding supply, Bernama News reported.

“So, there is certainly a good reason why we should tap into green sukuk,” he said during the second-panel discussion on Green Financing/Green Sukuk at the third Annual Symposium 2017 on Islamic Finance here on Tuesday.

—SM/OIC-UNA