Sustainable bond issuance volumes of FIs, DBs to approach $300 bn in 2021

Sustainable bond issuance volumes of financial institutions (FIs) and development banks (DBs) are to approach $300 billion in 2021. According to Moody’s Investor Service, this expectation is based on the average annual rate of growth in green bond issuance since 2015. It said the forecast of $300 billion would mark an increase of around 30 per cent from last year, when FIs and DBs placed $225 billion of such instruments, up 69 per cent over 2020 — which was also a historic high.

However, the pace of growth will be slow relative to 2020. This is because sales of social and sustainability instruments will rise more moderately, having surged last year as issuers sought to finance coronavirus response efforts.