Market integrity

This report by the Climate Bonds Initiative analyzes the alignment of green, social, and sustainability bonds priced in the first nine months of 2022 with its database standards. While most issuance meets these criteria, a significant portion of labelled debt is excluded due to insufficient disclosure or a lack of ambition in the Use of Proceeds (UoP).

• In 2022, a significant portion of labelled debt failed to meet the criteria for inclusion in Climate Bonds databases: one in four dollars of green bonds and one in 17 dollars of social and sustainability (S&S) bonds were excluded. As of September 30, 2022, this represented USD 106.2bn in excluded green bonds and USD 14.4bn in excluded S&S bonds.
• Bonds are excluded from the Green Bond Database (GBDB) and Social and Sustainability Bond Database (SSBDB) for two primary reasons: insufficient information provided by the issuer, or Use of Proceeds (UoP) that lack the required ambition or alignment with methodology. Non-alignment can occur if projects do not meet specific criteria (e.g., LEED Silver instead of Gold), if the project type is not yet listed in the methodology, or if proceeds are used for general working capital.
• China was the largest source of excluded green bonds, primarily due to UoP allocations to general working capital (USD 11.3bn) and the inclusion of fossil fuels, including liquid natural gas (LNG), in eligible project categories (USD 9.0bn). However, updated China Green Bond Principles published by the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) in July now require 100% of UoP to be earmarked for green projects.
• In the USA and Germany, the primary driver for green bond exclusion was inadequate ambition in building standards. Specifically, more than half of excluded USA bonds (USD 5.5bn) and 70% of excluded German bonds (USD 3.9bn) cited buildings that did not align with sufficiently ambitious standards.
• Japan was the source of 56% of excluded social and sustainability bond volumes, largely because these deals included roads as an eligible Use of Proceeds, which Climate Bonds generally does not consider climate-friendly, except in certain emerging market territories.

APA

Harrison, C. (2022). Market integrity. Climate Bonds Initiative. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/3-in-every-4-dollars-of-green-bonds-issuance-meets-standards.pdf

Chicago

Harrison, Caroline. Market integrity. Climate Bonds Initiative, 2022. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/3-in-every-4-dollars-of-green-bonds-issuance-meets-standards.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Harrison |first1=Caroline |title=Market integrity |publisher=Climate Bonds Initiative |date=December 2022 |url=https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/3-in-every-4-dollars-of-green-bonds-issuance-meets-standards.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{harrison2022market, author = {Harrison, Caroline}, title = {{Market integrity}}, institution = {Climate Bonds Initiative}, year = {2022}, month = dec, url = {https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/3-in-every-4-dollars-of-green-bonds-issuance-meets-standards.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }