This article was written by Jonathan Gardiner, Sustainable Indices Product Manager, and Tom Freke, Fixed Income Data Specialist at Bloomberg.
Sustainable bond issuance topped more than a trillion dollars in 2023, bolstered by record levels of green bond sales, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Issuance of impact bonds (i.e., green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked) totalled $939 billion in 2023, up 3% on the same period last year. It’s not a record – that was 2021 when issuance reached $1.1 trillion.
One area where records were set in 2023 was green bond sales from corporates and governments, which climbed to $575 billion, a step up from 2022 and just beating 2021’s $573 billion figure.