year, and volume was 45% higher. The Top Party section of the
screen shows the largest issuer: the Federal Republic of Germany.
With three bonds totaling $4.3 billion, Germany accounted for
4.4% of total volume in the first half.
Now click the gray League Table tab. This lists all issuers in
the set period. Five of the top 10 issuers were governments. Of
them, the German, French, and Hong Kong governments issued the
most, with more than $11 billion raised among them. SNCF Réseau,
the infrastructure unit of France’s state-owned rail operator, raised
$3.2 billion. Beijing-based Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
raised $2.9 billion; French energy company Engie, $2.8 billion; the
government of Chile, $2.4 billion; and Poland, $2.3 billion. Spanish
power company Iberdrola, with $1.7 billion, and German bank Landes-
bank Baden-Wuerttemberg, with $1.6 billion, round out the top 10.
The prevalence of European corporate and government
issuers means that more than half the period’s total was euro-
denominated. Click the Analysis tab, and change the Group By
drop-down to Currency. The pie chart in the bottom right shows
euros accounted for 51% of all issuance, followed by the dollar (22%),
the Swedish krona (9%), and the Chinese renminbi (8%).NEXT, SWITCH BACK to the League Table tab and change the Role
to Manager. Crédit Agricole CIB was the top underwriter of green
debt in the first half, working on a total volume of $6.2 billion in
41 issues. HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Citi were the next largest.
The growth in the green bond market has been outpacing
that of traditional credit issuance. While green bond volume jumpedLeague Tables Show How Fast
The Green Bond Market Is Growing
By JAMES BATTY
Fixed Income
AN INCREASINGLY LARGE corner of the bond world is going green
as investors rush to get exposure to debt that will be used for
environmentally conscious purposes. A decade ago the green
bond market consisted of a mere handful of deals totaling less
than $1 billion. Now it’s raised more than $100 billion for the third
consecutive year.
What’s driving that growth? One key: The money raised in
green bond deals goes toward goals that are valued by both buyers
and sellers, says Christopher Flensborg, head of climate and sus-
tainable finance at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken. “As long as
there is a mutual appreciation between investors and issuers of
the societal and market benefits of use-of-proceeds language,
then the green and sustainable bond market will continue its rapid
growth,” he says.
TO FIND A TABLE of all corporate and government green bonds
issued this year, type “league” in the command line and select the
LEAG League Tables item in the autocomplete matches. Click on
the white header that says All Official Bond & Note Tables, then
choose Global Green Bonds – Corporate & Government. (Please
note: This search doesn’t include U.S. municipal green bonds or
green mortgages.) The shortcut is {LEAG @GLBGRNBD
Click the gray History tab, change the Role to Issuer and the
Period to Half Year. Comparing the first half of 2019 with the same
period last year shows the market’s growth. This year 319 issues
totaling more than $98.6 billion had been sold as of June 30. The
number of deals in the first half of 2019 was 25% higher than last
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