The economic recovery after the coronavirus crisis will require all possible efforts to mobilize public and private financial resources, in order to take off and recover adequate levels of economic activity and employment. Social bonds can contribute in this task, including the contribution towards sustainability and the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sustainable financing reached 226.9 billion euros in new green bond issues in 2019 according to Climate Bonds Initiative criteria, 49% above 2018. These financial assets make up the most visible part of sustainable financing. This figure would rise almost half a billion dollars adding issues that do not completely fulfill those criteria, while the cumulative gross volume of emissions until 2019 exceeded the billion-dollar mark for the first time.

Juan Carlos Villanueva
Secretary-General of the Spanish Observatory of Sustainable Financing (OFISO)