AFME is pleased to circulate its European ESG Finance quarterly data report for the third quarter of 2024. The report provides detailed data and analysis on the growing Sustainable Finance market in Europe.

The report also gives an overview of the near-term regulatory initiatives in the sector.

Among the main findings of this report:

• ESG bond and loan issuance in Q3'24 surpasses 2023 but remain below 2021-2022 levels:
  • ESG bond and loan issuance totalled €116bn, a 6% increase from Q3 2023 (YoY) and a 27% decrease from Q2 2024 (QoQ).

• • Green bond issuance on track to reach highest issuance, while sustainable, social and sustainability-linked bond issuance is on the decline.

• • Positive trend for the European ESG Securitisation market, with issuance at its highest level since 2021.

• • German issuers led in total loan and bond origination YtD, closely followed by French issuers. Notably, c. 58% of sustainability-linked bonds was originated in Italy and almost half of ESG bonds were issued in France or Germany.

• The share of ESG bonds in total bond issuance in Europe has plateaued, or even decreased since 2021:
  • ESG bond issuance, including ESG-labelled, sustainability-linked and transition bonds, represented 14% of total European bond issuance during 2024 YtD, a lower proportion from 14.2% in 2023 and 18% in 2022.
  • On a year-to-date basis, European green bonds reached the highest H1 issued amount on records. However, relative to the total European bond issued amount, its proportion has continued at c10% since 2021.

• Record-High global ESG Assets Under Management (AuM) driven by strong fund inflows:
  • Global funds with an ESG mandate reached $10.5tn as of Q3 2024, representing a 8.7% increase from Q2 2024 and a 18.2% increase from Q3 2023.

• • The quarterly increase can be attributed to the positive net inflow of $122.75bn in ESG funds in the third quarter of the year.