The labelled bond market topped $200bn in the first quarter of 2022, despite unfavourable conditions for fixed income securities. The green, social, sustainable, and other labelled (GSS+) bond charge was threatened by market volatility as the Ukraine war and rising interest rates sprung upon the opening months of the year. Despite this, the market demonstrated resilience and amassed a strong volume which is expected to rise over the coming months. The Q1 volume pushes total GSS+ bond issuance past the $3trillion mark since market inception in 2007, a solid milestone for a well-established market that is crafting the future of finance.

The SLB BOOM ?The first quarter of 2022 saw continued growth of sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs), which represented 11.9% (USD24bn) of total sustainable debt issuance in Q1 (+103.3% YoY). Read more in our Q1 Market update ? https://t.co/rBbt0SopCV #greenfinance #climate pic.twitter.com/qQOl5kcey9

— Climate Bonds (@ClimateBonds) May 26, 2022

Highlights:

• Milestone: cumulative green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked, and transition (GSS+) labelled debt reached USD3tn at the end Q1 2022; cumulative green at USD1.7tn
• Sustainability-linked bonds reached cumulative USD155.5bn by Q1 2022; transition bonds at USD10.2bn
• Q1 2022 issuance of GSS+ labelled deals reached USD202.2bn
• January was the most prolific month of the quarter with USD102.9bn of GSS+ issuance

Source: Climate Bonds Initiative