Brian Chappatta, Columnist

Green-Bond Market Needs to Get Tough to Blossom

The designation doesn’t mean much if issuers can self-label.

July 18, 2018 at 11:00 AM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

Some pruning still required.
Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

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The green-bond market is turning 10 years old1in a few months. On first glance, it might seem like a burgeoning slice of the financial system. What started with an offering from the World Bank has spread to issuers around the globe, from Belgium and France to Honolulu, Hawaii, and Saint Paul, Minnesota. Volume hit a new high last year and is on pace to set another record in 2018.

Dig a little deeper, though, and investors will find a market still very much stuck in infancy.