Geopolitical risk and global green bond market growth

Abstract

Using individual transaction data, we investigate how geopolitical risk influences green bond issuance across 73 countries during 2008–2021. We consider deal characteristics, as well as economic and institutional factors. We find a positive association between geopolitical risk and green bond issuance. The effect shows nonlinearity and time delays. Our findings remain robust after conducting sensitivity and endogeneity analysis. After decomposing the geopolitical risk index, we discover that all its components have positive correlations with green bond issuance. Lastly, our study highlights the crucial role of the underwriters' network and specific geopolitical jurisdictions as drivers for global green bond market expansion.