Ecuador scooped the green bond structure innovation award for its $1 billion debt-for-nature swap finalised in December, which was the largest ever deal of its type to date and the first to include terrestrial as well as marine conservation objectives.

One awards judge praised the deal for its "very innovative structure" which both reduced the indebtedness of the emerging market sovereign whilst also achieving nature-based objectives.

Structured by Bank of America, the bond proceeds were used to repurchase more than $1.5 billion worth of existing sovereign bonds from Ecuador and generate $23.5 million in annual interest cost savings which will be directed to finance the Fondo del Biocorredor Amazónico.

The deal is expected to generate $460 million for the conservation project which aims to improve the management of 4.6 million hectares of existing protected areas, as well as protect an additional 1.8 million hectares of forests and wetlands in the Ecuadorean Amazon.

Another judge praised the "pioneering, high-impact" deal which combined a series of complex transactions including a public market bond issuance, cash tender offer, and two multilateral credit enhancements from the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).