U.S. Municipal Bond ESG Recap – Q3 2022

During the third quarter, Municipal issuance with ESG designation totaled $13.3B (including corporate municipal bond identifiers), out of $101.0B in total municipal securities issued.

Social Bonds represent the majority of ESG issuance, accounting for $6.63B of par volume or 49.8% of ESG issuance this quarter. The largest social bond issued during 3Q22 was The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ $2.68B Special Obligation Revenue Bonds (Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund) priced on 8/16/2022.

The 21-30 year range maturity green bond was dominated by the Department of Airports of the City of Los Angeles Airport bonds, while the short-range spike at social bond was led by The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Special Obligation Revenue Bonds (Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund), which has its last maturity dated July 2031. Both issuances were verified by Kestrel.

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General purpose, led by Massachusetts Special Obligation Revenue Bonds, represents the largest use of proceeds at $3.63B amongst ESG issuance this quarter, followed by Transportation, which accounts for $2.97B.

Majority of ESG issuance in the third quarter of 2022 has used a verifier. $8.67B of issuance had a third-party verification agency with Kestrel Verifiers accounting for the bulk of it at $6.85B.

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