AFME is pleased to circulate its European ESG Finance quarterly data report for the second quarter of 2026. 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 €204bn in proceeds in Q2 2026, a 28% increase from Q1 2026, but a 6% decline from Q2 2025.
- Sustainability-linked and Green Loans led the decline, with a 49% drop from Q2 2025.
- French issuers have led in total loan and bond origination in the first half of 2026 with €95bn, followed by German issuers (€59bn). Notably, around 66% of sustainability-linked bonds were originated in Italy.
- Green bond issuance increased by 29% from Q2 2025, remaining the largest ESG category by volume, and generating €109.6bn in proceeds. Sustainable bond issuance and social bond issuance experienced a strong increase YoY, of 161% and 42%, respectively. Sustainability-linked bond issuance experienced a significant drop year-on-year (-71%).
- The share of ESG bonds in total bond issuance in Europe increased in Q2 2026. ESG-labelled, sustainability-linked and transition bonds represented 15.6% of total European bond issuance in Q1 2026, from 10.8% in 2025.
- In H1 2026, 29 EU Green Bond Standard (EU GBS)-compliant bonds have been issued. The largest EU GBS bond issuance carried out during this period was originated by the EIB (€3.96bn), followed by BPCE SFH and NRW Bank (€1.49bn each).
- Global ESG Funds totalled USD 13.8tn in Q2 2026. This represented a 16% Year-on-Year growth, which was primarily driven by increased allocations to equity and mixed funds.
- Global ESG Funds saw inflows reaching USD 207bn in H1 2026, primarily driven by European funds.
- ESG premium tightened in Q2 2026, moving slightly from 1.27 bps at the end of March 2026 to 0.44 bps by the end of June 2026.