Building a World Top Green and Sustainable Bond Hub

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 54% 12% Hong Kong Worldwide 17 Building a World Top Green and Sustainable Bond Hub More importantly, 54% of the intentional bonds issuance by Hong Kong issuers was sustainable issuance, the highest percentage of sustainable issuance over total issuance in the international bond markets. This global percentage is only 12% (Figure 12). Among the sustainable bonds issued in Hong Kong, 87% were green theme accumulatively (Figure 13). The volume of bond issuance in terms of arrangement is an important metric as it is the top of the value chain of the bond issuance process, involving much expertise and resources. Hong Kong is particularly strong in the arrangement of bonds distributed globally by Asian entities. Since 2016, it has also become the first choice for Asian issuers in arranging first-time bond issuance. In the international sustainable bond market, about one-third of the international sustainable bonds issued from Asia were arranged in Hong Kong between 2021 and 2023 (Figure 14). Sustainable bond issuance in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to rise by about 10% in 2024, reaching approximately 260 billion US dollars. In terms of listing locations, Hong Kong together with Singapore continued to be the region’s top two most popular choices for listing Asian international bonds in 2023, a trend that has persisted since 2011. Sustainable Issuance over Total Issuance by Hong Kong Issuers Compared to Global Issuers Figure 12: Percentage of Sustainable Issuance over Total Issuance in International Bond Markets (Source: By the research team based on data from the ICMA)