Global issuance of green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition bonds, collectively known as sustainable bonds, reached US$480 billion in the first half of 2025, reflecting a decline of 18.6% compared with the same period last year, according to World Bank and Environmental Finance data.

For Q2 2025, total issuance of sustainable bonds fell 19.9% from the same quarter a year ago to US$215 billion. All categories reported declines:  green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition bonds decreased by 14.6%, 27.0%, 32.8%, 0.2% and 78.8%, respectively. Despite the decrease, green bonds took the largest market share of 68.3%.  

Public sector issuers accounted for 36%, or US$79 billion, of the issuances during the quarter, with US$41.2 billion coming from 23 sovereign entities. Two Asian countries made their debuts in the sovereign sustainable bond market, including China, which issued a 6 billion yuan ( US$824 million ) green bond in April, and Pakistan, which launched a 32 billion rupee ( US$113 million ) green sukuk in May.

A separate report from Moody’s shows that while the issuance of sustainable bonds across all regions decreased, Asia-Pacific and Europe decreased at a slower pace than other regions, making their proportion in global issuance increased in Q2 2025. There was also a slight pickup in issuances from non-financial corporates during the quarter.

Given the soft performance in the first half, and continued macroeconomic and policy uncertainty, Moody’s lowered its forecast of global sustainable bond issuance for the entire 2025 to US$900 billion, from US$1 trillion made at the beginning of the year.