Abstract:
Climate change represents one of the most discussed topics of the last decade, as well as one of the major cause for concern. In fact, related risks are not only limited to the environment itself, but they also jeopardize the society and the economy at both national and global levels. For this reason, between the variety of tools designed to deal with climate change effects, also finance made available new instruments whose aim is the enhancement of the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. Among them, green bonds became the main fixed-income asset to finance sustainable projects in fields such as renewable energy, transport, carbon emission, waste management and pollution. This paper explores characteristics, role and scope of green bonds and provides an analysis of the green bond market, considering in particular its stage of development in selected emerging market economies. Finally, a technical analysis considering the presence of a green bond premium in the emerging markets concludes the last section.