Entries for 'Green Bonds'

We are pleased to share the latest edition of our new quarterly chartbook, designed to monitor sustainable flows (to ESG funds, climate finance flows, and climate finance to emerging markets), ESG market development, the electric vehicle industry, and the evolution of the voluntary carbon market.  The chartbook also includes our regular ESG Country Scorecard—a useful indicator of progress in areas including carbon efficiency as well as broader environmental and social issues in emerging and frontier markets. We welcome your comments!

The ESG debt universe has grown rapidly, to near $4.5tr in Q322, up from $3tr in Q321 and $1.5tr in Q320. However, overall ESG debt issuance has slowed sharply this year amid broader debt market disruption.

Global sustainable/ESG debt issuance exceeded $645 billion in H1 2022; while some 15% below year-ago levels, this was double the pace of H1 2020. Sustainability-linked bond and loan markets also saw robust issuance in H1 2022.

Amid rising global rates and market volatility, global issuance of sustainable debt fell to $285 billion in Q1 2022, nearly 20% lower than in Q1 2021. Some $55 billion of issuance came from EMs in Q1-up from $45 billion in Q1 2021.

With environmental, social and governance issues dominating the international policy agenda–and as investor demand for new ESG financial products and services continues to grow–global debt markets, and by extension fixed income portfolios, are about to undergo a radical transformation.

As pandemic strains eased, EM sovereign Eurobond issuance subsided to pre-COVID levels in 2021 ($145 billion), with Chile, Mexico, and UAE the top issuers. With global rates set to rise in 2022, and still-high funding needs, EM sovereign issuance is expected to remain broadly stable at $150-$160 billion this year.

Global sustainable debt issuance surpassed $1 trillion during the first three quarters of 2021 and is now on track to reach almost $1.5 trillion in 2021

Global sustainable debt issuance is on track to surpass $1 trillion in 2021 – up 30% from 2020’s totals. However, emerging markets still represent less than 15% of the sustainable debt universe, highlighting strong growth potential; China, Chile, Turkey, and Mexico are the top issuers. The outstanding green bond market is now over $1 trillion, as the non-financial corporate issuer base broadens. Updated voluntary market principles and guidelines are supportive for market growth and harmonization. 

Global sustainability-linked debt issuance (loans and bonds) is on track to surpass $320bn in 2021 – triple 2020’s totals; With ambitious climate/ESG finance targets, financial firms are the biggest issuers of sustainability-linked loans this year.

Returns on green bond indices tend to be more volatile than for conventional bond benchmarks, with significant differences across sectors.  Overall, green bonds exhibit similar volatility-adjusted returns as conventional bonds.

The global sustainable debt market breached the $2tn mark in Q1 2021 and is fast approaching $3tn. Green bond issuance has surged as corporate net-zero emissions commitments accelerate. 

Global sustainable debt issuance hit an all-time record of over $655 billion in 2020, driven by rapid growth in ESG and sustainability-linked bonds. A more supportive global policy landscape could spur even more issuance in 2021

Global sustainable debt issuance surpassed $270bn during the first seven months of 2020, up 5% from 2019. The sustainable debt universe has now topped $1.5tn for the first time—80% in EUR, USD, and CNY 

In this special quarterly supplement to the Global Debt Monitor, we look at the impact of COVID-19 on sustainable debt markets (bond and loans), with comprehensive coverage of more than 150 countries across all sectors.