“We will see a pick up in green-labelled issuance in APAC as attention moves away from pandemic relief measures to financing the green projects needed to meet the major net-zero emission pledges across the region,” Hong Kong-based Tang said in an interview. “This is combined with policy pushes to support the green finance market.”
The decline in green bond sales from governments and corporates in Asia, to about $37 billion as of Dec. 7, stands in contrast with the rest of the world. In the Americas, sales increased 8% to almost $44 billion, while in Europe they surged more than 22% to over $140 billion, the data show.
Other regions may still overshadow Asia for green bonds in 2021. The European Union’s recovery plan includes a pledge to offer significant amounts of the debt, and Joe Biden’s presidency will bring additional funding into U.S. green infrastructure to align with the Paris Accord, Bloomberg Intelligence says.
With both China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-biggest economies, aiming for carbon neutrality as early as 2060 and 2050 respectively, the market to finance this shift needs to step up further, according to Fitch. That includes the development of transition bonds, with companies in industries such as oil or coal are looking at selling to help raise funds for a move to clean energy.
