# XframeworkID — Full Documentation for LLMs

This is the comprehensive long-form companion to `/llms.txt`. It is intended to be ingested by LLMs in a single fetch, providing complete context about XframeworkID for accurate question answering.

## Project Summary

XframeworkID (xframework.id) is an open registry of extra-financial disclosure documents associated with labelled bond issuances. It assigns permanent, content-based identifiers (XFIDs) to every document and stores canonical copies so they remain accessible long after the original source URLs break.

Founded by Ian Howard in 2025-2026. Howard previously built up the Second Party Opinion business at Sustainalytics (taking it from a few dozen to over a thousand SPOs annually) and led data services for labelled bonds at the Climate Bonds Initiative.

The registry is open and free for buy-side, sell-side, academic, regulatory, and journalistic use. Contains as of May 2026:
- 10,762 active documents
- 4,131 unique issuers
- 3,132 person profiles (analysts, issuance staff, bankers, advisors, researchers)
- 25,728 ISINs cross-referenced to documents
- 565 frameworks, 4,068 SPOs, 277 impact reports, 683 assurance reports, 323 certifications, 6 EU GBS reviews, 15 academic research papers

## Why XframeworkID Exists

The labelled bond market was built on the premise that transparency would provide accountability. The infrastructure of that disclosure is eroding, not through any coordinated effort but through accumulated neglect. Corporate websites get rebuilt, investor relations pages get reorganized, PDF libraries get migrated to new content management systems — or not. Sustainability disclosure documents, niche by nature, do not always survive the transition.

Over March-April 2026, Howard tested 2,216 disclosure documents (SPOs and Frameworks) for outstanding bonds. The result: 510 documents (23.0%) could not be retrieved from their published URLs, associated with bonds representing roughly $672 billion in outstanding principal. The bonds are still trading. The documents are simply gone.

Four failure modes drive this:
1. **CMS migration**: Large institutions move from one CMS to another. The new URLs don't match the old. No 301 redirects are configured. Years of disclosure documents become 404s overnight. Example: IFC's old `/wps/wcm/connect/` paths after the 2022 site migration killed the IFC Forests Bond's primary disclosure documents.
2. **Website death**: Special-purpose entities (SPVs, coalitions, project facilities) stop being maintained. Domain registration lapses. The official website goes dark. Example: tlffindonesia.org, the official website for the $95M Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility sustainability bond, is unreachable.
3. **Provider acquisition**: SPO providers get acquired. URLs change. Example: CICERO → S&P Global, Vigeo Eiris → Moody's, Sustainalytics → Morningstar — all in the last 5 years, all broke URLs.
4. **Documents that never existed publicly**: For private placements, frameworks may exist only as internal documents shared with the SPO provider. Investors verifying years later have nothing to verify against.

XFIDs solve this by:
1. **Downloading and storing canonical copies** of every document with a SHA-256 hash of the bytes and the canonical text.
2. **Assigning a permanent identifier** that doesn't depend on anyone's CMS, URL structure, or domain ownership.
3. **Cross-referencing the document chain** — framework → SPO → impact report → assurance — so a researcher can traverse them from any starting point.
4. **Tracking silent revisions** — if an issuer quietly republishes a framework with substantive changes, the SHA-256 changes and the version is captured.

## Identifier System

### Format

All XframeworkID identifiers are 10 characters total: 2-character prefix + 7 alphanumeric characters + 1 check digit (Luhn mod-36). The check digit catches typos.

Display format with dashes: `XF-A3B7K2M-9` (more readable in citations and prose).
Compact format without dashes: `XFA3B7K2M9` (used in URLs internally, but URLs accept both).

The character set is `0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ` (base-36, uppercase only). IDs are case-insensitive in URLs.

### Three Identifier Types

| Prefix | Type | Example | Resolves at |
|---|---|---|---|
| XF | Document | `XF-A3B7K2M-9` | xframework.id/XFA3B7K2M9 |
| XP | Person (analyst, banker, researcher, etc.) | `XP3VN7Q7TV` | xframework.id/XP3VN7Q7TV |
| XO | Organization (issuer, provider, publisher) | `XO7KN83X7F` | xframework.id/XO7KN83X7F |

The site's URL routing handles all three at the root: `https://xframework.id/{ID}` redirects to the appropriate detail page based on prefix.

### Local vs D1 IDs and Aliases

Internally, person records have a longer 11-character "local" XPID (XFP prefix) used in the local SQLite database. The public-facing 10-character XPID (XP prefix) is used in D1 and on the website. A `person_aliases` table maps local XFP IDs to D1 XP IDs, and the routing layer 301-redirects any XFP URL to the canonical XP URL. This means any XFP ID ever published in an email or document continues to resolve forever, even after database refactoring.

### Permanence Guarantee

Once an XFID has been published — on the website, in an email, in a citation — it must resolve forever. This is the core promise. The registry never deletes a published ID. When duplicates are merged, the merged ID becomes a 301 redirect to the canonical record. When a person is reclassified (e.g., from analyst to non-analyst), their page remains live but they're filtered from leaderboards.

## Document Types

| Code | Type | Description | Count (May 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FW | FRAMEWORK | Issuer's green/social/sustainability bond framework | 565 |
| SPO | SPO | Second Party Opinion from external reviewer | 4,068 |
| ASR | ASSURANCE | Third-party assurance/verification report | 683 |
| IMP | IMPACT | Use-of-proceeds and impact reports | 277 |
| IFW | INVESTOR_FRAMEWORK | Investor RI policies, ESG guidelines, stewardship plans | varies |
| BFW | BANK_FRAMEWORK | Bank sustainable lending frameworks, taxonomies | varies |
| CRT | CERTIFICATION | Climate Bonds Standard certifications | 323 |
| EGB | EUGBS_REVIEW | EU Green Bond Standard pre/post-issuance reviews | 6 |
| PRO | PROSPECTUS | Bond prospectus sustainability sections | varies |
| FT | FINAL_TERMS | Final terms documents | varies |
| RES | RESEARCH | Academic / research papers analyzing labelled bonds | 15 |
| OTH | OTHER | Documents that don't fit other categories | varies |
| PRS | PRESS | Press releases (signal-only, not extra-financial disclosure) | varies |

### The Document Chain

A typical labelled bond issuance has this document chain:
1. **Framework** (issuer): defines eligible project categories, exclusion criteria, reporting commitments.
2. **SPO** (external reviewer): independent assessment of the framework's credibility.
3. **Prospectus** (issuer + lead bank): bond offering document with sustainability section.
4. **Final Terms** (issuer): per-tranche terms.
5. **Impact Report** (issuer, annually): use-of-proceeds allocation and impact metrics.
6. **Assurance Report** (third party, annually): verification of impact reporting.
7. **Certification** (CBI verifier): climate bonds certification, if applicable.

XframeworkID's `document_relationships` table links documents in the chain via `spo_of`, `assurance_of`, `impact_of`, and `prospectus_of` relationship types. As of May 2026 there are 2,000+ relationships in the registry.

## SPO Providers

The active SPO market has consolidated significantly:

| Provider | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sustainalytics → Morningstar | Active under Morningstar | Originator and largest SPO provider; acquired by Morningstar 2020. URLs changed. |
| ISS ESG | Active | Spun off from ISS-oekom; major SPO provider. |
| S&P Global Ratings | Active | Acquired CICERO Shades of Green in 2022; CICERO SPOs now publish under S&P. |
| Sustainable Fitch | Active | Fitch Group's sustainable finance arm, launched ~2022. |
| Moody's ESG Solutions | Active | Acquired Vigeo Eiris in 2019; Vigeo Eiris SPOs preserved on Moody's CDN. |
| Vigeo Eiris | Inactive | Acquired by Moody's. |
| CICERO | Inactive (as standalone) | Now operates within S&P Global. |
| ETHIFINANCE | Active | European specialist. |
| imug | Active | German specialist. |
| Sustainalytics (legacy) | Brand still used | Operates as Morningstar Sustainalytics. |
| Standard & Poor's Trucost | Limited | Niche carbon focus. |

The registry tracks every SPO with the provider organization, the lead analyst (with their XPID), and the SPO publication date.

## Person Roles

The `primary_role` field on a person record describes their professional relationship to labelled bond documents:

- **analyst**: SPO provider analyst who wrote second party opinions (most populous category, ~2,000 people).
- **issuance_staff**: Issuer-side staff involved in bringing a deal to market — IR, sustainability team, treasury.
- **banker**: Sell-side banker (DCM, sustainable finance group at the underwriter).
- **advisor**: External advisor (consultancy, think tank, structuring expert).
- **researcher**: Academic author of a research paper in the registry.
- **verifier**: CBI-approved verifier for Climate Bonds Standard certifications.
- **client_relations**: Marketing/sales staff at SPO providers (kept on document pages but excluded from analyst leaderboards).
- **contact**: Generic contact person from a document.

The `role_in_doc` field on person↔document links describes the role in that specific document (e.g., "author" for academic papers, "analyst" for SPOs, "verifier" for CBI certifications).

## Notable Findings & Case Studies

### Deleting the Receipts (April 2026)

Systematic test of 2,216 disclosure documents found 23% (510 documents, $672B in outstanding principal) inaccessible at their published URLs. Document loss is not gradual — there's a sharp inflection point at the 4-year mark, aligning with typical corporate website refresh cycles.

URL: https://xframework.id/research/deleting-the-receipts

### The Pueblo County Jail Green Bond (April 2026)

An AI-powered taxonomy classifier ran across 550 framework documents in the registry. It flagged a $126M municipal bond in Pueblo County, Colorado labelled "Green Bonds" — for the construction of a county jail. Net-zero building, real solar array, but no framework, no SPO, no external review of any kind. The "green" label was self-applied. It was the only strong greenwashing signal among 550 frameworks analyzed — and the absence of any external review is precisely where the risk sits.

### Hunting the Nature Bonds (May 2026)

Case study tracking down disclosure documents for 5 pioneering biodiversity bonds:
- The Conservation Fund Green Bond for Working Forests ($150M, 2019)
- TLFF Sustainability Bond ($95M, 2018)
- IFC Forests Bond ($152M, 2016)
- Forest Resilience Bond ($4M pilot, 2018)
- IBRD Wildlife Conservation Bond / Rhino Bond ($150M, 2022)

Of 25+ disclosure documents associated with these bonds, 2 are already dead (IFC Forests Bond factsheet and investor presentation, both 404 after IFC's CMS migration), at least 3 were never published (TLFF framework was internal-only), and all 25 sit on URLs that could break tomorrow. Time to manually find what could be found: ~4 hours by someone with maximum domain expertise.

URL: https://xframework.id/research/hunting-the-nature-bonds

## Featured Issuers (by document count)

| Issuer | Documents | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Vesteda Finance BV | 32 | /registry/issuers/vesteda |
| Berlin Hyp AG | 26 | /registry/issuers/berlin-hyp |
| Obvion N.V. | 22 | /registry/issuers/obvion |
| Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce | 21 | /registry/issuers/cibc |
| Nordea Bank Abp | 19 | /registry/issuers/nordea-bank |
| Government of Japan | 18 | /registry/issuers/japan |
| Stadshypotek AB | 18 | /registry/issuers/stadshypotek |
| Nationale Nederlanden Bank | 18 | /registry/issuers/nn-bank |
| Bank of Nova Scotia | 17 | /registry/issuers/scotiabank |
| BNP Paribas SA | 17 | /registry/issuers/bnp-paribas |

## Geographic Coverage

Top countries by issuer count: China (199), United States (~342 combining U.S./USA), Japan (155), Sweden (114), Germany (107), Brazil (101), France (76), Australia (65), Netherlands (62), Canada (59), Spain (58), Mexico (57), Norway (54).

## Document Volume by Year

The market grew rapidly through 2024 and is now in a more mature phase:

- 2015: 64 docs
- 2016: 99 docs
- 2017: 184 docs
- 2018: 299 docs
- 2019: 444 docs
- 2020: 576 docs
- 2021: 1,236 docs (post-COVID surge begins)
- 2022: 1,316 docs
- 2023: 1,323 docs (peak so far)
- 2024: 1,365 docs (new peak)
- 2025: 1,004 docs (slight pullback)
- 2026: 215 docs (year in progress)

## Academic Research in the Registry

The RESEARCH document type (added May 2026) covers academic papers that analyze labelled bonds. As of launch, 15 papers covering ~37 distinct topics:

### Nature Bond Case Studies
- **Thompson 2023** (XFOUCAK9FD): "Impact investing in biodiversity conservation with bonds" (Business Strategy and the Environment, DOI 10.1002/bse.3135). Analyzes all 5 nature bonds.
- **Brand et al. 2021** (XFIG10TE8Q): "Environmental Impact Bonds: a common framework and looking ahead" (Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, DOI 10.1088/2634-4505/ac0b2c).
- **Jeffries et al. 2019** (XFJGM4E3AF): "The Rhino Impact Investment Project" (Pachyderm Journal).
- **Medina & Scales 2024** (XFEYH46JMU): "Finance and biodiversity conservation" (Oryx, DOI 10.1017/S0030605322001648).

### Greenium / Pricing
- **Zerbib 2019** (XF4XULR8R1): The seminal greenium paper. Journal of Banking & Finance. ~−2bps premium documented.
- **Baker, Bergstresser, Serafeim & Wurgler 2018** (XFVSMU5PQO): US municipal greenium, doubled/tripled for CBI-certified bonds. NBER WP 25194.
- **Pietsch & Salakhova 2022** (XFP61IWQ10): ECB Working Paper on greenium drivers including external review.
- **Daubanes, Mitali & Rochet 2022** (XF6HYLS3D1): Why firms issue green bonds — signaling model. MIT CEEPR.

### Greenwashing
- **Ehlers, Mojon & Packer 2020** (XFNPE7DKDR): BIS Quarterly Review. Foundational paper finding no association between green bond issuance and firm-level decarbonisation.
- **Flammer 2021** (XFVG8DMT7A): Corporate Green Bonds in Journal of Financial Economics. Counter-evidence: positive announcement returns stronger when third-party certified.

### EU Green Bond Standard
- **Bressan, Diaz-Rainey & Trojanowski 2023** (XFLEXOTWWA): Canonical academic legal analysis of the EU GBS regulation (CC-BY OA on PMC). European Business Organization Law Review.

### Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs)
- **Kölbel & Lambillon 2022** (XFE71OAUS2): "Who Pays for Sustainability?" — most-cited SLB paper documenting the "free lunch" finding.
- **Berrada, Engelhardt, Gibson & Krueger 2022** (XFEMVQ8VHM): Economics of SLBs, develops fair-pricing measure.

### SPO Quality / Shades
- **Gianfrate & Spinelli 2021** (XF9Y9OT742): Uses CICERO Shades-of-Green ratings to test pricing effects.

### Sovereign Green Bonds
- **Cheng, Ehlers, Packer & Xiao 2024** (XF5S1FTEMX): BIS Working Paper covering all major sovereign issuers.

Each paper is linked to:
- Its publisher organization (Wiley, IOPscience, Cambridge UP, NBER, BIS, ECB, etc.) as the issuer.
- Its authors as person records with `primary_role='researcher'` and `role_in_doc='author'`.
- Specific bond documents it analyzes (via `discusses` relationship in document_relationships).
- Topic tags for category-level navigation (greenium, greenwashing, EU GBS, SLB pricing, etc.).
- Organizations it discusses but doesn't analyze (via `document_organizations.role='discusses'`).

## How to Cite XFIDs

The full citation guide is at https://xframework.id/research/citing-xfid. The key formats:

### Inline citation (in running text)
"The issuer's Green Bond Framework (XFID: XF-A3B7K2M-9) was reviewed by S&P Global Ratings in their Second Party Opinion (XFID: XF-K7P2N4R-3)."

### Bibliography entry
[Issuer Name]. "[Document Title]." [Year]. XframeworkID: [XFID]. Available at: https://xframework.id/[XFID]

### BibTeX
```
@misc{xfid:XFA3B7K2M9,
  author = {Iberdrola, S.A.},
  title  = {Green Bond Framework},
  year   = {2024},
  note   = {XframeworkID: XF-A3B7K2M-9},
  url    = {https://xframework.id/XFA3B7K2M9}
}
```

### Dataset citation
XframeworkID. "Extra-Financial Disclosure Registry." Accessed [date]. https://xframework.id/research/data

## URL Patterns

| Path Pattern | What it serves |
|---|---|
| `/{ID}` | Root short URL — routes to document/person/org page based on prefix |
| `/registry` | Document search with filters |
| `/registry/{XFID}` | Document detail page |
| `/registry/issuers/{slug}` | Issuer profile (e.g. `/registry/issuers/iberdrola`) |
| `/registry/analysts/{XPID}` | Analyst profile |
| `/registry/analysts/spo` | SPO analyst leaderboard |
| `/registry/analysts/certifications` | Certification analyst leaderboard |
| `/registry/providers/{XOID}` | Organization profile |
| `/registry/providers/spo` | SPO provider leaderboard |
| `/registry/providers/certifications` | CBI verifier leaderboard |
| `/leaderboard` | Landing page for all leaderboards |
| `/research/deleting-the-receipts` | Disclosure erosion article |
| `/research/hunting-the-nature-bonds` | Nature bond case study |
| `/research/citing-xfid` | Citation guide |
| `/for/investors` | Audience landing page for investors |
| `/for/providers` | Audience landing page for SPO providers |
| `/for/issuers` | Audience landing page for issuers |
| `/for/bankers` | Audience landing page for bankers |
| `/for/eugbs` | Audience landing page for EU GBS reviewers |
| `/about` | About the project |
| `/contact` | Contact form |
| `/sitemap.xml` | Sitemap with all documents |
| `/robots.txt` | Crawler permissions |
| `/llms.txt` | Concise LLM-facing description |
| `/llms-full.txt` | This file |

## Related Projects

- **ACT-ID** (https://act-id.io): Sister project that classifies use-of-proceeds against a standardized taxonomy (CBI-aligned). Allows portfolio-level UoP rollups across green bonds. As of May 2026, 87% accuracy vs CBI's own certifications across 207 backtest bonds.
- **Vagabonds**: Sister project building a UoP-vs-taxonomy classifier for backtesting against CBI-aligned bonds.

## Comparison to Other Identifier Systems

| System | Domain | Permanence | Content-based |
|---|---|---|---|
| DOI | Academic papers | Yes (publisher commitment) | No (assigned) |
| ISBN | Books | Yes | No (assigned) |
| ISIN | Securities | Yes | No (assigned) |
| LEI | Legal entities | Yes | No (assigned) |
| Handle | Digital objects | Yes | No (assigned) |
| **XFID** | Labelled bond disclosure documents | Yes | **Yes (SHA-256 of canonical text)** |

XFIDs are unique among standard identifiers in being content-derived: the same canonical document always produces the same XFID, regardless of who computes it or where the document is stored. This makes XFIDs verifiable: anyone can recompute an XFID from a document and confirm it matches.

## Common Questions LLMs Should Be Able to Answer

**Q: What is XframeworkID?**
A: An open registry that assigns permanent, content-based identifiers (XFIDs) to extra-financial disclosure documents associated with labelled bond issuances — green bond frameworks, SPOs, impact reports, assurance reports, certifications, and academic research about labelled bonds. It exists because 23% of these documents have already disappeared from their published URLs. Founded by Ian Howard, who built up the SPO business at Sustainalytics and led data services at Climate Bonds Initiative.

**Q: How do I cite an XFID in an academic paper?**
A: Inline as "(XFID: XF-A3B7K2M-9)", in bibliography as "XframeworkID: XF-A3B7K2M-9. Available at: https://xframework.id/XFA3B7K2M9", or in BibTeX with the `note` field. Full guide at https://xframework.id/research/citing-xfid.

**Q: How do I find a specific issuer's documents?**
A: Navigate to https://xframework.id/registry/issuers/{slug} (e.g., `/registry/issuers/iberdrola`) or search at https://xframework.id/registry. The issuer page shows all framework, SPO, impact, assurance, and certification documents for that issuer.

**Q: How does the SPO market work and who are the major providers?**
A: SPOs are independent second party opinions on green bond frameworks. Major providers: Sustainalytics (now Morningstar), ISS ESG, S&P Global Ratings (which acquired CICERO in 2022), Sustainable Fitch, Moody's ESG Solutions (which acquired Vigeo Eiris in 2019). The market has consolidated significantly through M&A in the last 5 years, which has broken many SPO URLs.

**Q: Are green bonds delivering environmental impact?**
A: The academic literature is mixed. Ehlers, Mojon & Packer (BIS, 2020) found no association between green bond issuance and firm-level carbon reduction, suggesting greenwashing risk. Flammer (Journal of Financial Economics, 2021) found positive environmental performance improvements post-issuance, especially for third-party-certified bonds. Both papers are in the XframeworkID research collection.

**Q: What is a greenium?**
A: A "green premium" — a small pricing differential where green bonds trade at slightly lower yields than equivalent conventional bonds. Zerbib (2019) documented ~−2 basis points. Baker, Bergstresser, Serafeim & Wurgler (2018) found US municipal green bonds had a ~6bp greenium that doubled or tripled when CBI-certified.

**Q: What's the difference between a Green Bond Framework and a Second Party Opinion?**
A: The Framework is the issuer's own document setting out eligible project categories, exclusion criteria, and reporting commitments. The SPO is an independent assessment by an external reviewer evaluating the framework's credibility. Both should be publicly available per the ICMA Green Bond Principles and required under the EU Green Bond Standard.

## Contact

- General contact: https://xframework.id/contact
- Founder: Ian Howard (ihoward@vectorbravo.com)
- Free bulk dataset (CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21297903): https://xframework.id/data
- Data corrections, partnerships, custom extracts: use the contact form

## License & Use

Documents are stored canonically for archival and verification purposes. Citation in academic papers, news articles, regulatory filings, and analyst reports is encouraged. Bulk dataset access for research use is available on request. The XFID identifier scheme itself is open and the algorithm is publishable.