Exclusive: Less than 1% of green bond proceeds used for green projects

Corporate greenwashing, investor demand for yields hampering real progress.

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(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — A new study finds that green bonds have done virtually nothing to make the world greener.

The study, titled “Green Bonds: New Name, Same Projects,” was conducted by Pauline Lam, a visiting scholar at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and Jeffrey Wurgler, a finance professor at that institution. Their research is being presented this coming Friday (May 17) at a University of Chicago conference.

The researchers’ conclusion is profoundly depressing because green bonds originally held such promise.