Bloomberg Introduces Indices for Green, Social, and Sustainability Bonds

Bloomberg, a source of business and financial market information, has announced the creation of a series of indices encompassing sustainable finance products such as green, s

ocial, and sustainability bonds.

The introduction of the new Bloomberg Global Aggregate Green, Social, and Sustainability Bond Indices follows years of rapid growth in the market for sustainable finance instruments, which are estimated to have reached $1 trillion in issuance volume last year, representing a record 15% of the world's total bond issuance.

Bloomberg Indices' Sustainable Indices Product Manager Jonathan Gardiner stated,

"We aim to capture both short- and long-term market trends with our sustainable index products, and worldwide sustainable debt issuance has already surpassed $1 trillion this year, per BloombergNEF statistics."

The new series consists of 24 new indices and includes corporate, sovereign, supranational, and agency bonds, municipals, and structured products as qualifying securities. The indexes will also include information from Bloomberg's ESG data team, allowing Bloomberg Terminal users to access underlying bond documentation, such as usage of proceeds allocation to approved project categories and SDG alignment. Additionally, Bloomberg has created a "Sustainable Index Eligibility Indicator" that enables study of stocks included in the index as well as those at risk of exclusion.

Gardiner added:

"Based on Bloomberg's flagship Global Aggregate index, our new Global Aggregate Green, Social & Sustainability Bond Indices incorporate the research of Bloomberg's ESG and fixed income data teams to deliver a diverse set of indices to meet the diverse needs of the investment community exploring this expanding market."