Ten years after the debut transaction, green bonds are on the verge of becoming the first socially responsible investing (SRI) asset class to hit the mainstream. The success of the $700bn global market is attributable to a multitude of factors.
Chief among them is corporate social responsibility, which has worked its way up issuers’ agendas, and the buy-side giving more weight to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in investment decisions. The latter has also realised that climate change potentially damages the value of their long-term investments.
