Climate-friendly stocks have outperformed in the past two years but green bonds remain on a par with ordinary bonds, says ESMA.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has said in its latest Trends, Risks and Vulnerabilities report that the ESG Leaders 50 index has for the past two years outperformed the corresponding benchmark index. Meanwhile, green bonds saw over 80 billion euros issued in 2019 with 271 billion euros now outstanding, although this is only 2% of the EU corporate bond market. “As regards performance, there is no significant evidence yet that points to outperformance or underperformance of green bonds relative to conventional bonds.”, they said.