Green Bonds Have Second-Busiest Month of 2023
Issuers rushed to borrow to fund sustainability-linked initiatives ahead of the usual December slowdown.
Global sales of bonds to fund green initiatives had their second-busiest month of the year in November, with issuers rushing to borrow ahead of the usual December slowdown amid a rally in the broader market.
Issuance of new bonds from corporations and governments to fund green initiatives totaled $57 billion last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, the most since May and the second-busiest November since the inception of the green debt market in 2007.
Notable green bond issuers in the month included Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., which raised the equivalent of nearly $7 billion. French utility Electricite de France SA priced the first green bond in Europe that can be used to finance nuclear energy projects. India and SQM, the world’s second-largest lithium supplier, also tapped the market.
Issuance of all kinds of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) bonds—also known as green, social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs)—jumped to $82.6 billion in November, up from $55.9 billion in October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Despite the heady November, global ESG issuance will likely end the year slightly below its 2022 level, according to Barclays Plc. The bank forecasts $825 billion in 2024, roughly in line with recent years but “well below the 2021 record high,” ESG research analysts including Charlotte Edwards wrote in a note.
“We do not expect U.S. volumes to pick up substantially, in particular given ongoing regulatory uncertainty,” Edwards and her team wrote, referring to corporate issuance. “We expect green bond issuance to continue to dominate the market, but also forecast a decent rise in SLB supply.”
ISSUANCE
| Oct ($B) | Nov ($B) | YTD | y-o-y (%) | More detail | |
| Green Bonds | 32.96 | 56.98 | 517.51 | 10.6% | SRCH @GREEN |
| Green Bond Principles | 32.88 | 56.66 | 516.18 | 10.7% | SRCH @GREENICMA |
| ESG Muni | 8.26 | 7.26 | 52.69 | 20.8% | SRCH @ESGALL – filtered for Munis |
| Sustainability Bonds | 10.59 | 11.35 | 156.82 | 0.3% | SRCH @SUSTAINABILITY |
| Social Bonds | 9.18 | 9.63 | 136.91 | 4.1% | SRCH @SOCIALBOND |
| Sustainability-linked Bonds | 3.18 | 4.62 | 65.92 | -23.1% | SRCH @LINKEDBOND |
| Sustainability-linked Loans | 8.95 | 3.99 | 222.42 | -51.0% | SRCH @LINKEDLOAN |
| Green Loans | 0.88 | 0.69 | 67.59 | -28.8% | SRCH @GREENLOAN |
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