Q1 at a glance
Green bond issuance reached USD47.9bn in Q1 2019, and surpassed Q1 2018 volume of USD33.8bn by 42%, on a clear upward trend. Almost a quarter came from debut issuers. There were 43 new market entrants from 17 countries.
A third of Q1 volume came from non-financial corporates, including the first green bonds from telecoms companies (Verizon and Telefonica).
There was repeat sovereign issuance from France, Indonesia and Poland, while issuance from North America reached USD14.7bn from 25 issuers in Q1 2019, making it the second highest quarterly performance of the region after Q4 2017 (USD17.3bn).
14% of deals were Certified Climate Bonds, including the largest single green bond of Q1 2019: Société du Grand Paris’s EUR2bn (USD2.3bn) deal under its Programmatic Certification.
London Stock Exchange was the most popular green bond listing venue with USD5.7bn worth of deals. However, Deutsche Börse was the largest platform for green bonds trading as a stock exchange group.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch was the largest underwriter in the global green bond market in Q1 2019, climbing from the 3rd place in Q4 last year. HSBC retained the 2nd spot globally with USD2.2bn underwritten deals.
Q1 Highlights
- USD47.9bn of green bond issuance
- 42% growth on Q1 2018
- 285 green bond issues from 122 issuers
- 23% of volume from debut issuers
- 43 new market entrants from 17 countries
- EUR2bn (USD2.3bn) – largest single green bond of Q1 2019, issued by Société du Grand Paris
- Repeat sovereign issuance from France, Indonesia and Poland
- 14% of issuance were Certified Climate Bonds
Download the full report here.
