Fossil lending

Net green/fossil bond syndication league table 2021

Written by Ulf Erlandsson

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In this report, we provide rankings for major banks in terms of their net green vs fossil bond syndication fee revenue. In a good sign that banks are putting more relative focus on climate solutions, 2021 marked the first time that fees from green bond syndication surpassed those of direct fossil related syndications.

However, what is less positive is that the relative shift comes mainly from more green and not less issuance activities for fossil focused businesses. The fees charged for fossil issuances are in line with the past decade, whereas green fees appear to have been trending downwards as the market has grown in the past five years, arguably from higher competitive pressure.

The full year numbers establish further evidence on some themes highlighted in our earlier pieces: (1) French banks climb significantly and land themselves at the upper part of the table; (2) MUFG firmly sits at the bottom of the table; and (3) Japanese banks are all in the bottom third together with more “regional” North American banks WFS and RBC.

We select traditional league-table criteria for bonds only (not loans) and use Bloomberg flags for green bonds. Sustainability linked bonds are not defined as ‘green’ in terms of the league table construction.

About the author

Ulf Erlandsson

Ulf Erlandsson

Founder, Board member

Dr Ulf Erlandsson founded the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute and was its first CEO. A pioneer of climate-focused fixed income portfolio management, he was named Environmental Finance’s Bond Personality of the Year 2022.

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