According to the latest Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) sustainable debt market report, screened volumes of green, social sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition debt (collectively GSS+) recorded 205 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2023 (1Q23), showing a 17% growth compared to the previous quarter (4Q22), albeit falling by 21% YoY against 1Q22.

Green-labelled bonds made the largest contribution with 122.9 billion dollars (equal to 60% of total GSS+ issuance), almost matching the volumes recorded in 2022. Social bonds represented 15% of the total issuance, followed by Sustainability bonds (14%), sustainability-linked bonds (10%) and transition bonds (0.1%).

These figures could still be draft as there are some 57.7 billion dollars of green deals that have been delisted from the Climate Bonds Green Bond Database (GBDB) or classified as pending for further clarification from the issuer.

GSS+ sovereign liabilities received a big boost in the first quarter of the year (+44% vs 4Q22) as countries began to address their annual sustainable financing needs early on. The largest single issuer in 1Q23 was the United Kingdom, followed by Germany, Italy, India, and Belgium in the top five issuing countries.