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Greens bond in Europe - statistics & facts

Green bonds, also called climate bonds, are an indication that investors are interested in sustainability. Environmental degradation and climate change pose serious physical and transitional risks to financial stability, such as business disruption, asset destruction, lower value of stranded assets, and increase in insurance costs. Whether to identify opportunities, mitigate risk, or align values, investors are recognizing the potential of sustainable finance by launching new and restructuring old finance products. In Europe, the most common type of issuer of green bonds were financial corporate issuers, accounting for more than one third of the total green bonds issued in Europe in 2021.

What are green bonds?

Bonds are debt securities, which means that an investor temporarily lends money to a bond issuer. In return, the investor receives interest income. What makes green bonds different from ordinary bonds is that proceeds from green bonds go to environmental projects. These might include investments in new or existing projects on clean energy, energy efficiency, sustainable waste management, sustainable land use, efficient buildings, clean transportation, sustainable water management, or climate change adaptation. Green bonds may, just like any bond, be classed in different bond types, such as senior unsecured, covered bonds, senior non-preferred, just to name a few. The most common green bond type by debut issuers in Europe in 2020 was senior unsecured.

Which is the leading country for green bonds?

The European country with the highest value of green bonds issued, as of 2021, was France, followed by Germany. France and Germany were not only the largest countries in Europe in green bond issuance, but also the second and third countries worldwide with the highest value of green bonds issued, after the United States. The same two countries – Germany and France - were the leading issuers of green bonds in Europe by value the previous year, in 2020, while the leading European country by volume of issued green bonds that year, however, was Sweden.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Sep 2, 2022

Key insights

Size of the developed green bonds market in Europe
265bn USD
Value of green bonds issued by debut issuers in Europe
22.85bn USD
Leading sector for use of proceeds worldwide
Energy
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Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Leading countries in terms of value of green bonds issued worldwide in 2021 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Fixed Income

Global green bond market value 2021, by country

Value of green bond issuance in selected European countries in 2021 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Fixed Income

Value of green bonds issued in selected European countries 2021

Distribution of use of proceeds from green bonds worldwide between 2014 and 2021, by sector

Fixed Income

Global share of green bond proceed usage 2014-2021, by sector

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