UK sustainable finance bond issuance reached a record high of £10 billion in 2020.

The figure is up from £5.1 billion in 2019 with green bond issuance reaching £4.1 billion, up from £3.8bn raised in 2019, according to Refinitiv.

The firm says the increase has been driven by capital raising by sovereigns, multilaterals and banks for Covid-19 relief. In the UK £3.6bn of social bonds were also issued, representing 36% of the sustainable bond market during 2020.

The UK ranks 9th globally accounting for 2.5% of global sustainable bond in 2020. Barclays are the leading bank for UK sustainable finance bond underwriting with 9.7% market share during 2020.