Refinitiv’s* annual report on Green and ESG linked loan volumes showed that:

• Issuers tapped the loan market with over US$163bn of green and sustainability-linked issuance in 2019, nearly 2.5 times year-ago levels.  An additional US$2.8bn in sustainability-linked Schuldschein issuance also worked its way through the market amid strong investor support.
• The largest sustainability-linked financing to come to market was a US$10bn revolving credit facility for Anglo-Dutch oil company, Royal Dutch Shell.  The credit was also noteworthy in that it represents the first SOFR-based financing, moving away from Libor based pricing.
• In the US, Johnson Controls International launched US$3bn in revolving credit facilities based on sustainability-linked metrics.  The US-based syndication is especially noteworthy in that any pricing adjustment incurred by the issuer will apply to both the drawn and undrawn fees.
• Near investment-grade issuer, Crown Holdings tapped the market for over US$3.25bn in sustainability-linked loan financing in December.  They BB+/Ba2 rated issuer’s credit was syndicated to bank lenders entirely with no institutional component. 

Loans per region

The chart below shows that the survey showed that the EMEA region dominates the Global green and ESG loan volume in 2019:

Source & Copyright©2019 – Refinitiv LPC

Bank participants league table

The survey revealed BNP dominated the 2019 league table for all participants in Global green and ESG-linked:

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* Refinitiv global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure services

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CTMfile take: This new level of green and ESG lined loans is still a small fraction of all worldwide loans today, but it is start and usage is accelerating. Also, small improvements do make a difference, as C. B. Bhattacharya, a professor of sustainability and ethics at the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, shows in his new book “Small Actions, Big Difference” – worth a read.