IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2024-120.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sovereign Green Bonds: A Catalyst for Sustainable Debt Market Development?

Author

Listed:
  • Gong Cheng
  • Torsten Ehlers
  • Frank Packer
  • Yanzhe Xiao

Abstract

In traditional bond markets, sovereign bonds provide benchmarks and serve as catalysts for the corporate bond market development. Contrary to the usual sequence of bond market development, sovereign issuers are latecomers to sustainable bond markets. Yet, our empirical study finds that sovereign green bond issuance can have quantitative and qualitative benefits for the development of private sustainable bond markets. Our results suggest that both the number and the size of corporate green bond issuance increase more in a jurisdiction after the sovereign debut. The results are more pronounced in countries with stronger climate policies. Sovereign green bond issuance also improves the quality of green verification standards in the corporate bond market more generally, consistent with the aim of fostering third-party reviews and promoting best practice in green reporting and verification. Finally, our work provides evidence that the sovereign debut increases liquidity and diminishes yield spreads of corporate green bonds in the same jurisdiction.

Suggested Citation

  • Gong Cheng & Torsten Ehlers & Frank Packer & Yanzhe Xiao, 2024. "Sovereign Green Bonds: A Catalyst for Sustainable Debt Market Development?," IMF Working Papers 2024/120, International Monetary Fund.
  • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2024/120
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=550527
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mr. Sakai Ando & Mr. Chenxu Fu & Mr. Francisco Roch & Ursula Wiriadinata, 2023. "How Large is the Sovereign Greenium?," IMF Working Papers 2023/080, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Gong Cheng & Eric Jondeau & Benoît Mojon, 2022. "Building portfolios of sovereign securities with decreasing carbon footprints," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 22-66, Swiss Finance Institute.
    3. Kathy Yuan, 2005. "The Liquidity Service Of Benchmark Securities," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(5), pages 1156-1180, September.
    4. Durbin, Erik & Ng, David, 2005. "The sovereign ceiling and emerging market corporate bond spreads," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 631-649, June.
    5. Fabella, Raul & Madhur, Srinivasa, 2003. "Bond Market Development in East Asia: Issues and Challenges," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 35, Asian Development Bank.
    6. Torsten Ehlers & Benoit Mojon & Frank Packer, 2020. "Green bonds and carbon emissions: exploring the case for a rating system at the firm level," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    7. Robert F. Dittmar, 2008. "Do Sovereign Bonds Benefit Corporate Bonds in Emerging Markets?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(5), pages 1983-2014, September.
    8. Sirio Aramonte & Frank Packer, 2022. "Information governance in sustainable finance," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 132.
    9. Mr. Luc Laeven, 2014. "The Development of Local Capital Markets: Rationale and Challenges," IMF Working Papers 2014/234, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Mark J. Flannery & Claire Yurong Hong & Baolian Wang, 2023. "The Effect of Government Reference Bonds on Corporate Borrowing Costs: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(7), pages 4051-4077, July.
    11. Torsten Ehlers & Frank Packer, 2017. "Green bond finance and certification," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    12. Gong Cheng & Torsten Ehlers & Frank Packer, 2022. "Sovereigns and sustainable bonds: challenges and new options," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    13. Stijn Claessens & Daniela Klingebiel & Sergio L. Schmukler, 2007. "Government Bonds in Domestic and Foreign Currency: the Role of Institutional and Macroeconomic Factors," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 370-413, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jennie Bai & Shang-Jin Wei, 2017. "Property Rights and CDS Spreads: When Is There a Strong Transfer Risk from the Sovereigns to the Corporates?," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(04), pages 1-36, December.
    2. Jennie Bai & Shang-Jin Wei, 2012. "When is there a strong transfer risk from the sovereigns to the corporates? Property rights gaps and CDS spreads," Staff Reports 579, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Li, Delong & Magud, Nicolas E. & Werner, Alejandro, 2023. "The long-run impact of sovereign yields on corporate yields in emerging markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    4. Gong Cheng & Torsten Ehlers & Frank Packer, 2022. "Sovereigns and sustainable bonds: challenges and new options," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    5. Alessandro Moro, 2021. "Can capital controls promote green investments in developing countries?," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1348, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    6. Danny Cassimon & Dennis Essers & Karel Verbeke, 2015. "What to do after the clean slate? Post-relief public debt sustainability and management," BeFinD Working Papers 0103, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    7. Michela Scatigna & Dora Xia & Anna Zabai & Omar Zulaica, 2021. "Achievements and challenges in ESG markets," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, December.
    8. Giusy Chesini, 2024. "Can Sovereign Green Bonds Accelerate the Transition to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions?," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 30(2), pages 177-197, May.
    9. Ayala, Diana & Nedeljkovic, Milan & Saborowski, Christian, 2017. "What slice of the pie? The corporate bond market boom in emerging economies," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 16-35.
    10. Andreou, Christoforos K. & Lambertides, Neophytos & Savvides, Andreas, 2020. "Sovereign credit risk and global equity fund returns in emerging markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    11. Daniel C. L. Hardy, 2022. "Alternatives in the Design of Sovereign Green Bonds," wiiw Policy Notes 62, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    12. Janna Mai Nguyen & Dodo zu Knyphausen‐Aufseß, 2014. "The Impact of Sovereign Credit Ratings on Corporations: A Literature Review and Research Recommendations," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(3), pages 125-178, August.
    13. Bedendo, Mascia & Colla, Paolo, 2015. "Sovereign and corporate credit risk: Evidence from the Eurozone," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 34-52.
    14. Zinna, Gabriele, 2014. "Identifying risks in emerging market sovereign and corporate bond spreads," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 1-22.
    15. Di Tommaso, Caterina & Perdichizzi, Salvatore & Vigne, Samuel & Zaghini, Andrea, 2024. "Is the government always greener?," CFS Working Paper Series 718, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    16. Daniel Ramos-García & Carmen López-Martín & Raquel Arguedas-Sanz, 2023. "Climate transition risk in determining credit risk: evidence from firms listed on the STOXX Europe 600 index," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(5), pages 2091-2114, November.
    17. Liebich, Lena & Nöh, Lukas & Rutkowski, Felix Joachim & Schwarz, Milena, 2021. "Unconventionally green: A monetary policy between engagement and conflicting goals," Working Papers 05/2021, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.
    18. Christian Klein & Christoph Stellner, 2014. "Does sovereign risk matter? New evidence from eurozone corporate bond ratings and zero‐volatility spreads," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 64-74, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Green bonds; sustainable bonds; sovereign debt; taxonomies; green verification; bond market development; bond issuance; corporate bond bond market; issuance increase; sustainable bond markets; Climate finance; Corporate bonds; Sovereign bonds; Securities markets; Bond yields; Global; East Asia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2024/120. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.