The Loan Market Association (LMA) is pleased to announce the publication of the Transition Loans Guide on the 16th October 2025.

Developed in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (APLMA) and the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA), and informed by a dedicated taskforce of over 60 institutions, predominantly from the financial sector, but also including leading market authorities across key jurisdictions, this Guide is a practical, voluntary resource designed to support loan market participants navigating the fast-evolving and complex field of transition finance.

It provides a foundation for financing credible transition strategies, in the face of persistent challenges, such as fragmented taxonomies, definitional ambiguity, and verification and reporting difficulties.

Specifically this Guide:

• clarifies the distinction between transition finance and financing the transition;
• outlines clear parameters for what qualifies as transition finance; and
• presents, in exposure draft form, a voluntary, cross-jurisdictional framework for activity-level, use of proceeds transition loans.

The Guide offers borrowers and lenders actionable insights and tools to integrate transition objectives into loan structures. Its aim is to help catalyse large-scale capital flows toward transition activities and accelerate progress toward global decarbonisation goals.

Dedicated FAQs have now been added as an annex to the Guidelines for Sustainability-Linked Loan Financing Bonds (SLLBs). The addition aims to support scalability whilst upholding credibility and integrity in the structuring of SLLBs.