On April 14, 2020 Barron’s reported that “(w)ealthy investors looking for a way to do some good for those impacted by the current health and economic crisis have a new way to align their good intentions with their investments: Investing in Covid-19 social bonds, a new subset of environmental social and governance (ESG) investments.
In recent weeks, global entities have begun issuing bonds with the aim of channeling capital to everything from building hospitals to providing essential goods to families whose health or finances have been badly impacted by the virus.
Two other recent issues were by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private investment development organization based in Washington, D.C. The group sold one bond to support emerging-market companies that manufacture or distribute medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, and another to help private businesses and employees impacted by the global economic slowdown, according to Sustainalytics.
Among other virus-related social bond issuers so far have been the Nordic Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, African Development Bank, and 25 Chinese companies.”
You may read the article on the Barron’s internet site.