China Property Struggles Are Hurting Niche in ESG Finance

(Bloomberg) — China’s property downturn is weighing on yet another corner of financial markets: ESG-labeled securitized debt.

Chinese developers are issuing far fewer securities tied to climate or social objectives, resulting in only $2.8 billion being raised in Asia Pacific in the first half, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) show. That’s an 86% drop from a year earlier, and bucks a trend in both the U.S. and the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region, which saw increases.