LONDON (Reuters) – Green bonds worth more than $200 billion have been issued so far this year, taking the cumulative total since the securities were launched in 2007 to over $1 trillion, research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) showed on Monday.
Green bonds are used to finance clean energy and environmental projects such as wind farms and low-carbon transport.
The $200 billion issued this year is 12% higher than the first nine months of last year, even though economies have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“For much of this year, green bond issuance has lagged behind 2019. But the bumper month in September, with more than $50 billion issued, offers hope of a possible boom in the last quarter of the year,” said Mallory Rutigliano, sustainable finance analyst at BNEF.
Green bonds make up a small fraction of the overall bond market but they are attracting more attention because meeting emissions-cut targets will need trillions of dollars of capital from public and private sectors.
To enable the transition to a low-carbon economy, policymakers say $1 trillion a year of green investment is needed.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
