글로벌 기후금융의 현황과 발전방향: 녹색채권을 중심으로(Current Development and the Future of Global Climate Finance: Focusing on Green Bonds)

기후변화의 완화 및 적응에 필요한 투자자금의 조달 수단 중 하나인 녹색채권(green bond) 발행이 최근 5년간 10배 이상 증가하였다. 녹색채권은 기후변화 대응 자금의 조달 기능과 기업의 브랜드 가치 제고에 도움이 될 수도 있지만, 그린워싱의 위험도 동시에 높인다. 이런 문제에 대응하기 위해 최근 녹색채권의 규제체계가 빠르게 진화하고 있다. 본 보고서는 녹색채권 시장 및 규제체계 현황, 그리고 우리의 정책과제에 관한 최초의 종합적 보고서다. The mitigation and adaptation of climate change require large-scale investment in green projects. Green bonds, which are liquid financial instruments used to finance climate mitigation, adaptation, and green projects, have shown rapid growth in issuance in recent years. Besides financing for climate change, green bonds help ESG management by enhancing the issuer’s reputation for eco-friendly activities. Further, they may create, namely, greenium to reduce the cost of financing.In 2007, green bonds were first issued by multilateral development banks such as the European Investment Bank and the World Bank. The global issuance volume of green bonds soared from about $800 million in 2007 to $320 billion in 2020, and the total cumulative volume reached $1.5 trillion by October 2021. In 70 countries, sovereign institutions and private companies issued green bonds. The issuance by private companies accounted for 77.9% of the total number of issuance and 63.9% of the total amount. Financial companies accounted for 46.0% of private issuances, higher than non-financial companies, 31.9%. In 40 countries, the public sector, such as the central and local governments, public corporations, and public institutions, issued green bonds, accounting for 25.6% of the total issuance volume. Although developed regions such as Europe and the United States and international organizations have been leading their issuance, it is notable that emerging countries such as China are fast increasing the issuance recently. Since a Korean institution first issued green bonds overseas in 2013, by October 2021, the total stock of green bonds issued at home and abroad by Korea’s public institutions or private companies reached 43.5 billion dollars. In particular, the issuance of green bonds in 2021 increased explosively, approximately ten times more than in the previous year. Green bonds need a regulatory system defined as the institutional framework regarding the requirements for being a green bond and the means of verifying the requirements and of penalizing for theirviolation. The International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) and the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) presented the Green Bond Principles as the basis for the green bond regulatory framework. (the rest omitted)