green bond principles

Subscribe to green bond principles via RSS

How companies that are unable to issue green bonds can still participate in sustainable finance.

By Paul A. Davies, Aaron E. Franklin, and Kristina S. Wyatt

If the 2010s were the decade in which green bonds took hold, the 2020s will be the decade in which sustainable finance hits the broader marketplace. The green bond market has hit its stride, with issuances reaching well over US$200 billion in 2019. Attaining that figure is quite an accomplishment, considering that the first green bond appeared in 2007. While the green bond market will likely continue to grow, sustainable finance is expected to extend well beyond the strictures of traditional green bonds to embrace sustainability priorities beyond environmentalism and products other than bonds.

By Cesare Milani and Alice Gunn

With US$100 billion of issuances anticipated by year end, the green bonds market is increasingly attracting the attention of corporations, supranational entities, multilateral banks, cities and municipalities seeking to raise capital for projects or investments with a positive environmental impact.

There was a threefold increase in green bond issuances in 2014 (compared to 2013) and, in 2015, the first high yield green bond offering in France by independent recycling company, Paprec Group, was further evidence of not only a growing market, but a maturing one.

For the market to continue to grow, however, there may be merit in clarifying the definition of green bonds.