Global Sustainable Debt Issuance Will Crack $1 Trillion Mark In 2021

• Based on the Institute of International Finance (IIF) report, the global issuance of sustainable debt is on track to surpass $1 trillion this year with green bonds dominating. Green bonds are used to finance climate-related or environmental projects, and they make up the lion's share of all new issuance, at 35%, led by Germany, China, and France. 
• The surge in issuance is a result of corporations and financial institutions being put under pressure from investors to increase their activity in sustainable debt. As a result, sustainable debt sales more than doubled year-on-year in the first half of 2021 to over $680 billion, closing in on the $700 billion issued during the whole of last year.  
• The main participants are sovereigns, financial institutions, and utilities, however, firms from elsewhere in the energy sphere, as well as materials and consumer discretionary sector, are quickly joining the fray. A key factor to note is that emerging markets still represent less than 15% of the sustainable debt universe and as such developing countries have some catching up to do.

(Source: Reuters)