During the Covid-19 pandemic, social bond issuance was the fastest-growing segment of the global sustainable debt market, worth a record $732bn in 2020.
However, as the use of social bonds to fund pandemic relief declined, 2022 saw appetite for this ‘niche area’ of fixed-income wane, with issuance falling 34% year-on-year to $141bn. By the end of 2022, social bond issuance stood at €464bn, according to data from Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
