Issuance of green bonds globally reached a new record in the second quarter of 2026, hitting $193 billion in the quarter, driven by strong growth by European issuers, and lifting overall issuance of labelled sustainable bonds higher compared to the same quarter last year, according to a new report released by Moody’s.
While a much smaller segment of the sustainable finance market, blue bond issuance also hit record levels in the first half of the year, already surpassing total volumes for all of 2025, while sustainability and sustainability-linked bond volumes declined year-to-date, according to the report.
Overall, the report found that global issuance of labelled sustainable bonds – including green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked, and transition bonds – increased by 4% year-over-year in Q2 2026, although issuance year-to-date remains slightly below H1 2025, following a slower Q1 2026.
By region, the report found that Europe has increased its dominance in the sustainable bond market, representing 58% of issuance volume in Q2 2026, and 56% in Q1, compared with 44% and 43% in the corresponding quarters last year, respectively. The Asia Pacific region represented 20% in Q2 2026, down sharply from 32% a year ago, while North America fell to 8% of issuance from 9%.
By bond type, green bond issuance increased 2% in Q2 2026 over the prior year, rising to a quarterly record $193 billion, driven by sharp growth of 34% in Europe, which represented nearly two-thirds of green bond issuance for the quarter, while Asia Pacific volumes fell 42% from a particularly strong Q2 2025, and North America volumes declined approximately 16% to $15.4 billion. Notably, however, the decline in North America volumes was driven by agencies and municipal issuers, while corporate and financial institution issuance in North America increased by around 8% and 12% respectively year-over-year, according to the report.
Social bonds also saw significant growth in the quarter according to the report, with volumes rising 18% year-over-year to $42 billion, with growth driven by the agencies sector. Sustainability bond issuance, while growing in Q2 by 19% year-over-year, remain below the prior year on a year-to-date basis. Sustainability-linked bond issuance remains subdued, with issuance down 63% year-to-date, and remaining at around $3 billion for the fourth consecutive quarter.
Blue bond issuance, while still a small portion of the sustainable bond market, increased by approximately 6x year—over-year in the first half of 2026 to $3.7 billion, with Moody’s attributing the growth to the release of market standards amid growing investor demand and broader financing needs across blue economy sectors. H1 2026 issuance of blue bonds hit a half-year record, surpassed all of 2025’s $2.6 billion, and approached the full-year record of $4.7 billion from 2024, according to the report.
By issuer type, the report found that financial institutions and non-financial corporates remained the largest categories in Q2, representing 29% and 26% of issuance, respectively, while year to date growth has been driven by agencies and sovereigns, with issuance by these sectors growing 22% and 15% year-over-year in H1 2026.
Click here to access the report.
