At the end of 2023, the outstanding amount of sustainable bonds issued by the corporate and official sectors totaled USD 2.3 trillion and USD 2.0 trillion, respectively. Green bonds dominate issuance in both sectors. The key difference between the sectors is that sustainability‑linked bonds (SLBs) played a lesser role in the official sector, with only USD 9 billion issued in 2023. Additionally, sustainable bonds constituted a modest portion of funding for central governments, representing merely 0.4% of all sovereign bond issuances in 2023.There is no statistically significant evidence that companies systematically benefit from a premium for issuing a sustainable bond. This is a sign that market practices and regulations may need to change for sustainable bonds to fulfil their potential. For example, sustainable bond contracts typically allow issuers to refinance existing projects with the proceeds, rather than invest in new projects. At the same time, the share of sustainable bonds being assured by second party opinion providers has grown from less than half in 2019 to nearly three-quarters in 2023.