Green bond issuance to top USD 80bn in 2016 - Moody's

Global green bonds volume for 2016 is on track to reach well above USD 80 billion (EUR 73bn) and could approach USD 100 billion following a record third quarter, Moody's said on Monday.

In the three months to the end of September, USD 26.1 billion of green bonds were issued, a record quarterly figure, the credit rating agency said. This brought the amount for the first nine months of the year to USD 63.2 billion, which is significantly higher than the total of USD 42.4 billion for the entire 2015, the previous annual record.

Moody's said that the third quarter saw a diversification in the use of proceeds. The value of issuance in the main categories of renewable energy and energy efficiency fell to below 50%, while allocations increased to areas such as clean transportation, waste management and clean water.

In the third quarter there was also significant issuance from Chinese banks which led to China accounting for 44% of global issuance. Supranationals and Mexico ranked second and third with 16% and 8% of global issuance, respectively.

The number of issuers and transactions, at 50 and 77, respectively, declined slightly from the second quarter, while the average transaction size increased.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.917)

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