Renewable

January 22 (Renewables Now) - Global green bond issuance in 2018 amounted to USD 167.3 billion (EUR 147bn), up by 3% year-on-year, according to preliminary figures by the Climate Bonds Initiative.

When sustainability, SDG and social bonds are added to the calculation, the green bond figure jumps to USD 202.5 billion.

Financial corporates issued USD 49 billion worth of green bonds, or 29% of the 2018 volume. Climate Bonds pointed out that this is the first time since market inception that financial corporates have the largest share of annual volumes. Industrial Bank Co, ING and ICBC were responsible for almost a third of the segment’s total.

At USD 29 billion, non-financial corporate issuance came second with a 17% share of the market. Spanish utility Iberdrola (BME:IBE), Italian utility Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) and French energy group Engie SA (EPA:ENGI) were the top three corporate issuers. Their cumulative volume was USD 4.5 billion, or 15.5% of the segment.

Sovereigns deals had a 10.5% share of the green bond total last year, up from 7% in 2017. Deals came from Belgium, France, Ireland, Indonesia, Lithuania, Poland and the Seychelles.

The US, China and France remained the top three markets for green bonds, accounting for 47% of 2018 issuance. US issuers contributed USD 34.1 billion, Chinese issuers - USD 30.9 billion, and French - USD 14.2 billion. The top three global issuers also come from these three countries -- Fannie Mae (USD 20.1bn), Industrial Bank Co (USD 9.6bn), The Republic of France (USD 6bn).

The past year saw 1,543 green bond issues from 320 issuers, including 204 new issuers. The full 2018 Green Bond Market Summary is available here.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.88)