The World Bank has praised Malaysia for financing sustainable, climate-resilient growth. Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank regional vice-president for East Asia and Pacific, said Malaysia’s innovative green sukuk initiative would help close the gap for both infrastructure and green finance. In July, Tadau Energy issued the Green SRI Sukuk Tadau, the RM250 million Sustainable Responsible Investment shariah-compliant bond, which holds a tenure of up to 16 years. It will finance a 50-megawatt solar power plant. Kwakwa said the framework underlying this instrument was the result of collaboration between the Securities Commission of Malaysia, the Malaysian Central Bank and the World Bank Group. She said the World Bank issued US$10 billion in bonds through the green bond programme since 2008 and new issuances in the global market are expected to exceed US$120 billion this year.