Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is the central bank of the Philippines. In the energy sector, BSP plays a pivotal enabling role through its sustainable finance regulatory framework — which governs how banks and financial institutions integrate environmental and climate considerations into lending, investment, and risk management. The BSP framework is a foundational pillar of the Philippines’ green finance architecture for funding the energy transition [PEP 2023-2050 Vol. II, pp.113–117, 2023].

Sustainable Finance Regulatory Framework

BSP has issued three progressive circulars building a layered green finance regime:

BSP Circular 1085 s.2020 — Sustainable Finance Framework

Issued 29 April 2020; the foundational circular requiring all BSP-supervised financial institutions to:

• Integrate sustainability principles into corporate governance frameworks
• Embed environmental and social risk management into credit risk assessment
• Align strategic plans with sustainability objectives

This established the regulatory expectation that banks must consider climate and environmental risk in lending — directly affecting financing conditions for new energy projects [PEP 2023-2050 Vol. II, p.114, 2023].

BSP Circular 1185 s.2023 — Green Project Incentives

Issued 13 December 2023; provides financial incentives for green and sustainable lending:

• +15% Single Borrower’s Limit (SBL) for green/sustainable projects — allows banks to lend more to individual RE developers or transition projects
• Reserve requirement reduced to 0% for sustainable bonds — lowers cost of funding for green bond issuers

These incentives directly reduce the cost of capital for RE and energy efficiency investments [PEP 2023-2050 Vol. II, pp.114–115, 2023].

BSP Circular 1187 s.2024 — Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Guidelines (SFTG)

Issued 21 February 2024 via the Financial Sector Forum (FSF) (BSP + SEC + Insurance Commission + PDIC); establishes the Philippine Sustainable Finance Taxonomy — a classification system for economic activities that contribute to or impede environmental sustainability:

Seven guiding principles govern the taxonomy: do no significant harm; minimum social safeguards; science-based; transparent; inclusive; dynamic; aligned with international standards.

The SFTG enables banks, investors, and regulators to classify energy sector loans and bonds by environmental alignment — critical for mobilizing international green capital [PEP 2023-2050 Vol. II, pp.115–117, 2023].

Financial Sector Forum (FSF)

The FSF (BSP + SEC + Insurance Commission + PDIC) coordinates sustainable finance policy across all financial sector regulators. The BSP chairs the FSF’s work on the SFTG. Earlier, the Green Force inter-agency Technical Working Group (with NEDA and BSP as co-leads) produced the Philippine Sustainable Finance Roadmap (launched 20 October 2021), covering three pillars and four objectives for aligning the financial system with the SDGs and climate commitments [PEP 2023-2050 Vol. II, pp.113–114, 2023].

CEFIM Participation

BSP is a member of the Clean Energy Finance Initiative Management (CEFIM) Programme Programmatic Steering Committee (PSC) — the inter-agency body chaired by the DOE Undersecretary that oversees implementation of the CEFI Roadmap for OSW finance and EEC in public buildings. BSP’s role focuses on the financial sector enabling environment for clean energy investment [PEP 2023-2050 Vol. II, p.116, 2023]. See Clean Energy Finance and Investment (CEFI) Roadmap / CEFIM Programme .

Philippines GSS Bond Market

BSP’s regulatory push has contributed to rapid growth in the Philippine Green, Social, and Sustainability (GSS) bond market:

• 2022: USD 6.58 billion outstanding — 21% of total ASEAN GSS bond issuances
• 2023: USD 10.11 billion — 22% of total ASEAN GSS bond issuances

[PEP 2023-2050 Vol. II, p.114, 2023]. See Clean Energy Finance Framework .