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Survey of Green Bond Pricing and Investment Performance

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  • K. Thomas Liaw

    (Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University, Queens, NY 11439, USA)

Abstract

Green bonds are similar to conventional bonds but are specifically earmarked to raise money to finance climate or environmental projects. There have been anecdotes of green bonds being priced tighter than similar conventional bonds by the same issuers. Our survey of academic literature indicates that most papers show the yield of a green bond is lower than that of the equivalent conventional bond at issuance (also known as green premium or greenium). However, green bond pricing studies by Climate Bonds Initiative produce mixed results. The conflicting results are likely explained by differences in sample selections, time periods, methodologies, and the properties of the respective issuing entity and the bond. In addition, we examine investment returns from select green bond funds and green bond indexes. The assets under management of those funds are still small and they underperform their benchmark indexes.

Suggested Citation

  • K. Thomas Liaw, 2020. "Survey of Green Bond Pricing and Investment Performance," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:13:y:2020:i:9:p:193-:d:404098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Malcolm Baker & Daniel Bergstresser & George Serafeim & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2018. "Financing the Response to Climate Change: The Pricing and Ownership of U.S. Green Bonds," NBER Working Papers 25194, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Inese Mavlutova & Aivars Spilbergs & Atis Verdenhofs & Jekaterina Kuzmina & Ilja Arefjevs & Andris Natrins, 2023. "The Role of Green Finance in Fostering the Sustainability of the Economy and Renewable Energy Supply: Recent Issues and Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-18, November.
    2. Giuseppe Cortellini & Ida Claudia Panetta, 2021. "Green Bond: A Systematic Literature Review for Future Research Agendas," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-29, December.
    3. Diana Pop & Caroline Marie-Jeanne & Régis Dumoulin, 2023. "Socialium or the Financial Price of Social Responsibility [« Socialium » ou le prix financier de la responsabilité sociale]," Post-Print hal-04120305, HAL.
    4. Danilo Liberati & Giuseppe Marinelli, 2022. "Everything you always wanted to know about green bonds (but were afraid to ask)," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Statistics for Sustainable Finance, volume 56, Bank for International Settlements.
    5. Karel Janda & Binyi Zhang, 2021. "Attractiveness of Chinese Bonds Financing Climate and Environmental Projects," FFA Working Papers 4.007, Prague University of Economics and Business, revised 26 Apr 2022.
    6. Mercédesz Mészáros & Máté Csiki & Gábor Dávid Kiss, 2023. "The Volatility of Green and Non-green Sovereign Bonds on the Emerging EU Markets," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(1), pages 25-44.
    7. Martijn Boermans, 2023. "Preferred habitat investors in the green bond market," Working Papers 773, DNB.

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