The Bundesbank’s ESG Bond Monitor provides an overview of the market for sustainable bonds. Topics covered are, among others, the issuance of sustainability-related bonds across various jurisdictions and economic sectors, as well as the performance of sustainable bonds compared with conventional peers.

In this edition

2024 was the second strongest year in ESG bond issuance to date. With €915 billion, slightly more ESG bonds have been issued compared to previous years; only in 2021 was the issuance volume even higher, at €995 billion. In 2024, German issuers issued ESG bonds totalling €73 billion, making Germany, after France, the second largest location for ESG bond issuers. With €64 billion, Germany is even the leader in the segment of green bonds. Special topic in this issue is a brief analysis of the holder structure of funds with ESG-related assets in the euro area. The ESG share of euro area custodians has been rising since 2018 and is currently around 9 %. In absolute terms, most of the volume in the euro area will be held by traditional funds. The high ESG share of ETFs held in euro area custody of around 25‑40 %, depending on the ETF indicator, is striking.

available in German only