New GSS+ Bond Volumes Fall 24%

The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) captured US$858.5 billion of new green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition (GSS+) volumes in 2022, representing a 24% decline from the previous year (US$1.1 trillion). CBI’s Sustainable Debt Global State of the Market 2022 report noted that this is first year-on-year fall in volume that GSS+ bonds have sustained in the past ten years. GSS+ maintained its 5% share of bond market volumes last year. Green bonds accounted for 58% of the total with volumes of US$487.1 billion, a 16% decline on 2021 volumes of US$582.4 billion. Social bonds saw the most severe decline, dropping by 41%. Sustainability bonds fell 21%, while sustainability-linked bonds suffered a 32% drop. US$2.2 trillion of green bond issuance had been recorded at the end of 2022, with a total of US$3.8trillion recorded across all GSS+ labels. The US ESG bond market also suffered a 50% decline in sales in Q1 2023 compared to the same period a year ago. Companies sold just US$6 billion of bonds in the quarter, according to data from Bloomberg.  

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