Challenges wrought by geopolitical conflict and inflation brought the more than a decade long growth of sustainable bond issuance to an abrupt end in 2022.
After jumping to become a trillion-dollar market in 2021, annual green, social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked (GSSS) bond issuance shrank 15% to $899 billion in 2022, according to figures from Environmental Finance Data.
It was also a year which revealed just how far the market has come to date – and how much further it still needs to go.
As demonstrated by contributions to Environmental Finance's Sustainable Bonds Insight 2023, intensifying scrutiny of the credibility of all sustainable bond labels has also come to the fore in 2022 – and the market is responding.
Despite hand-wringing around 'greenwashing' risks – for sustainability-linked bonds in particular – that is an exciting prospect for the sustainable bond market in 2023 and beyond.
2023 is likely to see a diverse set of market participants shine the spotlight on the importance that the necessary - if nebulous - theme of 'transition' is set to play in sustainable bond markets.
Contributions to the report reveal just how pervasive and powerful this theme is to many issuers, underwriters, investors and service providers.
The free-to-download report features infographics and data on the main trends in the GSSS markets in 2022 and includes brand new chapters and infographics dedicated to these new directions for the market.
Click here to download Environmental Finance's Sustainable Bond Insight for free.
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