Ahren Lester

Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge mandates green bond deal

Sustainable bond 'maturity wall' to reshape market

With $1 trillion of sustainable bonds approaching maturity, will their issuers return to the market, asks Ahren Lester

Sustainable bond market share declines amid 'opportunistic' issuance trend

The decline in bond market share for sustainable bond in 2024 has been primarily driven by issuers trying to get to market quickly with deals rather than waning interest in sustainable bonds, according to Moody's.

Passive fund growth fuels $38bn ESG bond fund inflows in 2024, says Barclays

Global environmental, social and governance (ESG)-focused bond funds have reported "strong" net inflows worth a cumulative $38 billion in 2024 to date, according to Barclays - with passively managed funds leading the surge.

A tale of two triple-tranche sustainable bonds

After two innovative sustainability-focused triple-tranche bond deals from Ahold Delhaize and EDF in recent months, the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII) argues the Dutch-Belgian supermarket chain ...

Costa Rica to publish sustainable finance taxonomy next week

Costa Rica is preparing to publish its sustainable finance taxonomy next week, just over two months after completion of a consultation on the proposed 'green' list for the South American country.

'Annual social bond reporting doesn't make sense'

A major European issuer has argued that the sustainable bond market should look beyond annual reporting to better capture the long-term impact sought by instruments such as social and biodiversity-focused bonds.

Banks reporting 'very low' green assets amid data 'shortcomings'

European banks have reported "very low" green asset ratios (GAR) in the first year of the disclosures amid important shortcomings in the data applied which impact their comparability, according to Barclays.

Jamaica anticipates 'active' Caribbean sustainable bond market

The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) expects an "active" sustainable bond market to develop in the Caribbean amid growing interest from investors and issuers, including the Jamaican government and corporates.

'Promising' future for sustainable sukuk as record 2024 on track

Medium-term growth in sustainable sukuk issuance remains "promising" amid a record-breaking start to 2024 for the sustainable Islamic bond market, with some key markets seeing almost half of total sustainable bond issuance in sukuk format.