Sustainable Debt Issuance Fell Amid Rates Turmoil, ESG Pushback
- Decline in 2022 was first ever, after years of strong growth
- Social sales plunged most; green bonds saw support from China
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The global sustainable debt market posted its first decline on record in 2022 as higher borrowing costs and heightened skepticism about the label turned borrowers away.
Companies and governments worldwide raised a total of $863 billion in green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bonds in 2022, a 19% drop from the record $1.1 trillion issued in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the first annual sales decline since green bonds first emerged in 2007.