Thursday 24 October 2019

New global record as green bonds issuance tops $200bn

The green bonds market has set a new record this year as it surpassed the $200 billion ($155bn) mark in October.

According to Climate Bonds Initiative, the figure of $202.2 billion (£157bn) that was recorded on 22nd October 2019 marks an all-time high for the green market.

Some of the deals that pushed the total figure past the new milestone were those closed by Terna Energy, with an issuance of €150 million (£129m) and a mix of green bonds and loans from Singapore, Japan, Sweden and China.

The analysis adds the US leads the rankings to date in 2019, followed by France, China, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Japan, Italy and Canada.

Energy is said to dominate overall use of proceeds at 33%, followed by low carbon buildings at 29%, low carbon transport at 20%, water at 9% and waste and land use each at 3%.

Sean Kidney, CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative said: “Based on these figures, 2019 will be another record year for green finance. New sovereigns are entering the market and pioneers like France, Poland and Nigeria are now repeat green issuers.

“Bond size and diversity of issuers is increasing and noteworthy is the presence of leading European and Chinese banks amongst the largest issuers. All positive signs of market maturation.

“But $200bn [£155bn] or $400bn [£311bn] a year is not enough to address the climate emergency and provide the capital at the scale urgently required for large scale transition, adaptation and resilience.”

He adds generating the first $1 trillion (£0.78tn) in annual green investment by 2021/22 is now “critical”.