Publication of statistics on issuances of sustainable debt securities
21/02/2023 - Press Releases
- The Bank of Greece starts publishing monthly statistics on sustainable debt security issuances by domestic residents.
- Similar data for the euro area as a whole are published by the European Central Bank,[1] as part of its action plan to include climate change considerations in its monetary policy strategy.[2]
The Bank of Greece uses micro data from its databases, as well as information contained in published documents by the issuers themselves, to produce new statistics on sustainable debt security issuances by domestic residents.
In line with the ECB practice, sustainable debt securities include the following categories:
- (i) Green debt securities, where the proceeds are used to finance green projects;
- (ii) Social debt securities, where the proceeds are used to finance social projects;
- (iii) Sustainability debt securities, where the proceeds are used to finance a combination of both green and social projects;
- (iv) Sustainability-linked debt securities, where the issuers are committed to future improvements in sustainability outcome(s) with no restrictions on how the proceeds can be used.
The data are available with a breakdown by issuer sector and by security category. They are reported at face value and refer to outstanding amounts at the end of each reference period. Information is also provided on the share of sustainable debt security issues in the total debt securities issued by domestic residents, broken down by economic sector. The sustainability classification of a given debt security is by no means a label assigned by the Bank of Greece, but is given exclusively on the basis of information available from published documents by the issuers themselves, in accordance with the above mentioned methodology applied by the ECB.
The new statistics will be available on a monthly frequency and will follow the relevant release of ECB statistics on issuances of sustainable debt securities in the euro area.
It should be noted that the lack of internationally accepted and harmonised standards on the definition of sustainable debt securities makes the data less reliable overall. The ECB labels these data as “experimental”,[3] as they comply with many, but not all, of the quality requirements (in terms of harmonisation, coverage and methodological soundness) of official ECB statistics. The data are therefore a work in progress and should be used with caution. They are intended to contribute to the enhancement of the collection of data on climate-related risks and the green transition. The ECB will continue to work with the national central banks to improve the methodology and the quality of the data. As a result of these methodological improvements, the data released will be gradually enhanced and enriched over time. The structure and content of the tables accompanying this press release may be changed at a later stage.
Related link:
The data will be published in the “Statistics” section of the Bank of Greece website, under the heading “Financial markets and interest rates”, in particular in the sub-section “Securities issues by domestic residents, including sustainable debt securities”.