Green bond issuance greatly exceeded analysts’ projections in 2019 and is set to continue expanding this year as sustainability-minded investors take up the majority of deals that hit the market. Credit-rating agency Moody’s had predicted a record-setting year for green bonds for 2019 but had to revise its projection to $250 billion from $200 billion after growth exceeded expectations. Through the end of September, more than $189 billion in green bonds — whose proceeds are used to fund environmentally-friendly projects — had come to market for the year, outstripping 2018’s total of $171 billion. The trend continued, for example Apple launched a €2 billion offering — its first euro-denominated green bonds — in one of the continent’s largest sustainable debt deals. Moody’s expects even stronger growth this year, spurred by the EU’s newly approved set of guidelines on what counts as a sustainable investment, which were drawn up to curb the practice of “greenwashing”, or making misleading claims about environmental benefits.

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The Financial times