AFME is pleased to circulate its European ESG Finance quarterly data report for the third quarter of 2025. The report provides detailed data and analysis on the growing Sustainable Finance market in Europe. The report also gives an overview of the near-term regulatory initiatives in the sector.
Among the main findings of this report:
- ESG bond and loan issuance accumulated €110bn in proceeds in Q3 2025, a 22% decline from Q3 2024.
o Sustainability-linked and Green Loans led the decline, with a 64% drop from Q3 2024.
o French issuers have led in total loan and bond origination in the first three quarters of 2025 with €116bn, followed by German issuers (€81bn). Notably, around 53% of sustainability-linked bonds were originated in Italy.
- Green bond issuance declined by 5.6% compared to Q3 2024, though remaining the largest ESG category by volume, and generating €63.5bn in proceeds. Social bond issuance and sustainability-linked and transition bond issuance experienced significant drops year-on-year, of 69.7% and 77% respectively.
- The share of ESG bonds in total bond issuance in Europe has decreased since 2022. ESG-labelled, sustainability-linked and transition bonds represented 11.9% of total European bond issuance in Q3 2025, from 12.9% in 2024.
- As of Q3 2025, 15 EU Green Bond Standard (EU GBS)-compliant bonds have been issued. The largest EU GBS bond issuance carried out in the first three quarters of 2025 was originated by the EIB (€2.99bn), followed by ABN AMRO Bank (€1bn).
- Global ESG Funds reached a new record high with USD 12.3tn in Q3 2025, representing a 3.4% Year-on-Year growth, which was primarily driven by increased allocations to equity and bond funds.
o Global ESG Funds saw inflows reaching USD 280bn in 2025 YtD, primarily driven by European funds.
- ESG premium widened in Q3 2025, from 0.65 bps in early July to 1.01 bps by September.
