Creating Green Bond Markets – Insights, Innovations, and Tools from Emerging Markets

The report analyzes the growth of green bond markets in emerging economies, highlighting the critical role of national guidance and alignment with international standards like the Green Bond Principles. Through case studies of countries such as China, Indonesia, and Morocco, it identifies key barriers—including lack of capacity and limited investor demand—and proposes a 'Green Bond Market Development Toolkit' featuring a self-assessment matrix and a roadmap of milestones to accelerate sustainable capital flows.

• National guidance is essential for emerging markets to align issuances with climate targets, maintain market integrity, and reduce transaction costs to achieve scale.
• China emerged as a global leader in green bond issuance after introducing mandatory guidelines and a project catalogue in 2015, accounting for 39% of global issuance in 2016.
• A significant gap exists in the adoption of tight, consistent green definitions, as most frameworks rely on broad categories for asset eligibility.
• The primary drivers for local green bond market development are opportunities identified by policymakers and regulators, followed by initiatives from local financial institutions.
• The most pressing challenges for regulators include a lack of knowledge and capacity within agencies, insufficient local investor demand, and a lack of qualified local verifiers.
• Regional cooperation, such as the ASEAN Green Bond Standards, helps harmonize definitions and reduce due diligence costs for cross-border investment.
• Public sector incentives, such as grants for external reviews in Malaysia and Singapore or interest subsidies in China, are used to reduce initial costs for new issuers.
• The report introduces a Green Bond Market Development Toolkit consisting of Common Objectives, a Self-Assessment and Planning Matrix, and a Roadmap with Common Milestones.

APA

Climate Bonds Initiative (2018). Creating Green Bond Markets – Insights, Innovations, and Tools from Emerging Markets. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Creating-Green-Bond-Markets-%E2%80%93-Insights-Innovations-and-Tools-from-Emerging-Markets_2025-02-17-163138_whfe.pdf

Chicago

Climate Bonds Initiative. Creating Green Bond Markets – Insights, Innovations, and Tools from Emerging Markets. 2018. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Creating-Green-Bond-Markets-%E2%80%93-Insights-Innovations-and-Tools-from-Emerging-Markets_2025-02-17-163138_whfe.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Bonds Initiative |title=Creating Green Bond Markets – Insights, Innovations, and Tools from Emerging Markets |date=2018 |url=https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Creating-Green-Bond-Markets-%E2%80%93-Insights-Innovations-and-Tools-from-Emerging-Markets_2025-02-17-163138_whfe.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatebondsinitiative2018creating, author = {{Climate Bonds Initiative}}, title = {{Creating Green Bond Markets – Insights, Innovations, and Tools from Emerging Markets}}, institution = {Climate Bonds Initiative}, year = {2018}, url = {https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Creating-Green-Bond-Markets-%E2%80%93-Insights-Innovations-and-Tools-from-Emerging-Markets_2025-02-17-163138_whfe.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }