A new record for green bond issuance of $255bn was set last year, according to figures from the Climate Bond Initiative.

Beating 2017 by a considerable margin (2018 totalled $170.9bn) and paving the way to an estimated 2020 level of $350bn, the annual total saw Europe as the largest market region overall $(106.7bn of annual issuance), and the US, China and France head the national rankings ($50.6bn, $30.1bn and $29.5bn respectively).

Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Italy, Canada, Spain, filled out the remaining Top 10 national positions.

The top 5 cumulative green bond issuers for 2019 were Fannie Mae ($22.8bn), KFW ($9.02bn), Dutch State Treasury Agency ($.66bn), Republic of France ($6.57bn) and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) ($5.85bn).

Clean energy dominated overall Use of Proceeds at 31.5 per cent, followed by low carbon buildings on 29.3 per cent, low carbon transport 20.2 per cent, water 9.3 per cent, with land use and waste both at 3.5 per cent and other categories comprising the remainder.

Climate CEO Sean Kidney 9pictured) noted: “The 2019 results and 2020 estimates bring the vital international milestone of $1tr in annual green investment by 2021/2022 into sight. Acceleration into trillions of annual investments to support transition, adaptation and resilience must become the hallmark of the new decade.”

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