NEW YORK: Almost all green bonds issued in the US fail to drive real action to tackle climate change, undermining the merits of a global market that’s grown to more than US$3 trillion, according to a study.
An analysis of the first green bonds sold by corporate and municipal issuers between 2013 to 2022 found that about 2% of proceeds were used to fund projects that are genuinely unique or don’t replicate existing work, Pauline Lam and Jeffrey Wurgler said in a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
