Understanding Green Bonds
Since the launch of our report ‘Growing green finance’ six months ago, interest in this field has continued to grow rapidly. Financial market participants, governments, and regulators alike are now more aware than ever of the need to tap mainstream capital markets to underwrite a transition towards more sustainable economic development. While there is a range of innovation on display within the sector, green bonds are by far the most sizeable part of the green finance market. With this in mind, we have focused this second output of our ongoing collaboration on this area. Our report seeks to set out in clear language what makes green bonds different from conventional bonds and explores the questions of who buys green bonds, and for what reasons. Our research reveals that granular data on the nature of green bond demand and the motives of buy-side market participants remains elusive. We will continue to explore this aspect of the market in future research and look forward to continued engagement with all parts of the industry. Our aim is to bring together financial and academic perspectives in a way that fosters a broader understanding of this exciting new asset class.