IOSCO/MR/11/2025 – Madrid, 21 May 2025
IOSCO has today published its Sustainable Bonds Report which identifies the key characteristics and trends tied to the sustainable bond market.
The sustainable bond market includes green, social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked bonds, and is a rapidly growing market. In 2024, total issuance reached USD 1.1 trillion, which was a 5% increase from 2023. The cumulative amount of sustainable bonds issued stands at more than USD 6 trillion with analysts predicting continued growth in the years to come.
IOSCO’s Report includes five key considerations which are designed to address market challenges, including enhancing investor protection, ensuring sustainable bond markets are operating in a fair and efficient way, and improving accessibility.
These are:
- Ensure greater clarity in existing or new regulatory frameworks to demonstrate alignment with internationally accepted principles and standards, support consistency, build investor confidence, and support market participation.
- Establish guiding principles to help provide clarity and consistency when categorizing sustainable bond types.
- Enhance transparency and disclosure requirements when it comes to reporting on issuers’ progress toward sustainability-related goals – or sustainability performance targets (SPTs) – to promote public accountability.
- Promote the use of independent and credible external reviewers to mitigate conflict of interest.
- Utilise capacity building and educational programs to increase awareness and understanding of sustainable bonds among issuers, investors, intermediaries and regulators.
To inform this Report, IOSCO conducted research, surveyed its members and engaged with its Affiliate Members Consultative Committee to gain insight from market participants. It also organized a roundtable with the OECD on sustainable bonds during the 2024 Annual Meeting.
IOSCO Board Chairman Jean-Paul Servais, who also serves as Chair of the Belgium Financial Services & Markets Authority, said: “IOSCO has continued to examine green finance products with IOSCO’s objectives in mind. This Report sets out key considerations for interested jurisdictions when seeking to foster a well-functioning sustainable bond market.”
Dr. Mohamed Farid, Co-Chair of the Green Finance and Innovation Workstream, Vice Chair of IOSCO’s Board, Chair of its Growth and Emerging Markets Committee and Executive Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority, Egypt, said: “Our work on Sustainable Bonds subscribes to IOSCO’s investor protection and transparent market objectives. The Report offers a comprehensive view of emerging practices in sustainability bond markets across jurisdictions. It reflects a collective effort to foster transparency, consistency, and innovation in sustainable finance globally.”
Grant Vingoe, Co-Chair of the Green Finance and Innovation Workstream and CEO of the Ontario Securities Commission, said: “Our goal for the Report was to identify the distinctive features of sustainable bonds and outline various approaches used to regulate these products. The research conducted for the Report reflects a broad range of global insights from IOSCO members and market participants on this important emerging trend in the capital markets.”
