Sustainable bonds are mainly collected from LSEG. This dataset contains deal-level information of nearly 19 000 bonds issued by both the corporate and official sectors from 109 jurisdictions since 2013. This dataset provides a detailed set of information for each sustainable bond issue, including the identity, nationality, and industry of the issuer; the type, interest rate structure, maturity date and rating category of the bond, the amount of and “use of proceeds” obtained from the issue. The issuance amounts were adjusted by 2024 US Consumer Price Index (CPI).
For sustainable bonds, values for corporations, agencies, local governments, and multilateral institutions correspond to the “gross proceeds” (i.e. the amount paid by investors to acquire the bonds) in most cases. Where the information on the gross proceeds could not be retrieved, the “original amount issued” (i.e. the face value of the bonds in their legal documentation) has been used as follows:
for corporates, 38% of the amount issued from 2013 to 2024 corresponds to the original amount issued, whereas the remaining 62% corresponds to the gross proceeds. For that 62% in which the gross proceeds are used, the gross proceeds are 7% higher than original amount issued. However, the amount issued in “all corporate bonds”, which includes conventional bonds, corresponds to the gross proceeds amounts in all cases.
for agencies and local governments and multilateral institutions, 23% of the amount issued from 2013 to 2024 corresponds to the original amount issued, whereas the remaining 77% corresponds to the gross proceeds. For that 77% in which the gross proceeds are used, the gross proceeds are 4% higher than original amount issued.
for central governments, only the original amount issued (i.e. the face value of the bonds) is displayed for consistency with other OECD publications on sovereign debt markets.
Agencies and local governments include national government agencies (e.g. KFW, Transport for London), local governments (e.g. Prefecture of Shiga, Province of Ontario), and national development banks (e.g. China Development Bank, Brazilian Development Bank). This category does not contain US Municipals that are not readily available in LSEG. The category Central Governments includes governments, treasuries, and central banks. The category Multilateral Institutions includes organisations formed by three or more jurisdictions (e.g. Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corp), and the European Union.
The category “Developed Asia-Pacific excl. US” includes Australia, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Chinese Taipei. “Latin America” includes jurisdictions both in Latin America and in the Caribbean. “Europe” includes all jurisdictions that are fully located in the region, including the United Kingdom and Switzerland but excluding Russia and Türkiye. “Middle East and Africa” includes jurisdictions classified as “Middle East and Central Asia” in IMF’s World Economic Outlook Database. Excluding those already considered in “Developed Asia-Pacific excl. US” and Israel. “Emerging and Developing Asia excl. China” includes all jurisdictions in Asia that are classified as emerging market and developing economies in IMF’s World Economic Outlook Database excluding China. “Others” includes jurisdictions that are not represented in the other categories (e.g. Türkiye).
LSEG data contains both Regulation S and Rule 144A sustainable bonds. Rule 144A presents a safe harbour from the registration requirements of the Securities Act for resales of securities not fungible with securities listed on a US securities exchange to qualified institutional buyers. Regulation S provides a safe harbour from the registration requirements of the Securities Act for offerings made outside the United States (Bruckhaus, 2017[24]). The calculations presented take account of this factor, and an exercise to eliminate the duplication when a single bond was issued both under Regulation S and Rule 144A was performed.
When calculating the outstanding amount of bonds in a given year, issues that are no longer outstanding due to being redeemed earlier than their maturity should also be deducted. Outstanding values refer to the “principal amount” or otherwise to the “original amount issued” (i.e. the face value of the bonds in their legal documentation) when the “principal amount” could not be retrieved. The early redemption data are obtained from LSEG and cover bonds that have been redeemed early due to being repaid via final default distribution, called, liquidated, put or repurchased. The early redemption data are merged with the primary bond market data via international securities identification numbers (i.e. ISINs).
In Table 2.1, for the GSS bonds where more than one “use of proceeds” was disclosed by the issuer, the amount issued by the GSS bond was equally split for each of the use of proceeds (“flat allocation”). For example, if a GSS bonds amounting to USD 1 000 displayed clean transport and energy efficiency as promised use of proceeds, USD 500 was allocated into the category clean transport and USD 500 into energy efficiency one.
In Table 2.2, for the SLBs where more than one key performance indicator was disclosed by the issuer, the amount issued by the SLB was equally split for each of the key performance indicators (“flat allocation”). For example, if a SLB amounting to USD 1 000 displayed renewable energy and sustainable forest management as key performance indicators, half of that amount was allocated into the category renewable energy and half into the sustainable and forest management one.
In Figure 2.11, the values correspond to the sum of the amounts issued in 2023 and 2024. The five displayed categories stand for: Large listed, advanced (bond issuers that are MSCI World Index constituents as of January 2025), Large listed, emerging (bond issuers that are MSCI Emerging Markets Index constituents as of January 2025), Smaller listed (bond issuers that are listed on a stock exchange but that are not constituents of the MSCI World nor the MSCI EM indexes), and Unlisted subsidiary with a listed parent (bond issuers that were delisted prior to 2023, or that have never listed their equity, and which have their immediate or ultimate parent listed), Other unlisted company (other bond issuers that were delisted prior to 2023, or that have never listed their equity). The bond issuer is categorised as listed if an International Securities Identification Numbering (ISIN) exists and if it is associated with a valid LSEG Identification Code (RIC) made up of the bond issuer’s ticker symbol and an exchange code (based on the name of the stock exchange). If the bond issuer does not display an ISIN coupled with a RIC or its RIC shows a delisting year prior to 2023 (e.g. SPS.N^H97), it is classified as unlisted.
