Global Social Bond Sales Top $14 Billion

Bonds meant to finance social causes had their busiest April on record, propelled by large deals from French unemployment insurance agency Unedic and the Republic of Colombia.

Global social bond sales reached $14.3 billion last month, edging out a previous record of $12.2 billion in April 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Unedic issued a €1 billion (US$1.08 billion) offering to fund the agency’s efforts to compensate workers and help companies preserve jobs through economic or health crises, according to its framework. It received orders that covered the deal nearly 13 times.

Colombia, meanwhile, tapped the U.S. debt market to raise $1.3 billion in a two-part offering to help fund the nation’s efforts to fight poverty, reduce social inequalities, and boost access to healthcare and education, according to its framework.

Issuance of the bonds skyrocketed at the height of the pandemic and in the wake of protests over the killing of George Floyd in 2020, as governments and companies raised billions of dollars in an effort to help mitigate the situations. In recent years, though, issuers have turned more towards sustainability bonds, a tag that allows borrowers to use the proceeds for both social and green projects.

New sales of green bonds, the largest category of sustainable debt by amount, hit $45.1 billion last month, making it second-busiest after issuers raised a record $53.5 billion in April 2023. Sustainability sales reached $16.7 billion last month while sustainability-linked bond sales dropped to $2.7 billion, the second slowest April for the subset.

ISSUANCE

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