ING: How Sustainable Finance Will Affect Global Businesses

According to issue nine of ING’s Sustainable Finance Pulse, the market shows signs of economic resilience and growth, despite current geopolitical uncertainty and global policy restraints.

Even with visible economic challenges, such as trade disruption caused by conflict in the Middle East, ING reports that the sustainable finance market is set to regain growth for 2026, surpassing a brief slowdown in 2025 due to market volatility. Global markets ended 2025 with a sustainable issuance of US$1.56bn which is expected to rise to US$1.62bn in 2026.

The market plays a fundamental role in global and regional finance, focusing on methods of ESG to measure valuable long-term investment opportunities. It also economically affects the way industries operate, such as infrastructure expansion for the AI sector and climate-resilient developments for commercial real estate.

Competition between global regions

While ING reports the outlook to be positive it reveals that, when analysing global issuance, diverse challenges affect each region.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is set to remain the largest region of sustainable issuance in 2026. EMEA is a well-established market for corporates with ESG frameworks, but the momentum may be slowing due to sustainability-linked debt.

The inertia in corporate issuance and sustainability-linked products isn’t unique to EMEA, with the challenge affecting many regions across the world.

The US saw one of the largest dips in global supply, with the rollback of regulations and the abandoned efforts to report on climate change creating substantial uncertainty for the country's financial market.

Asia-Pacific (APAC) continues to develop after several years of sustainable finance investment, with 2026 expected to see even more growth for the region.

At the end of 2025, APAC’s market remained robust, with high demand for sustainability-linked loans.

Climate-aware investments

As regions invest and increase issuance volumes, signs of growth are showing, evidenced by a strong start after US$257bn entered the market in the first two months of 2026.

ING reports that many corporations remain committed to decarbonisation efforts, with a particular focus on initiatives around green financing for Low Impact Development (LID) products for real estate and infrastructure.

The report states that green finance plays a key role in the decarbonisation and climate management of real estate, with investors seeking assets capable of strong energy performance and methods of integrating sustainability into financing solutions. In recent years, the level of green bond issuance has trended around 40%, including in 2026.

Speaking on sustainable finance for property development, Sylvia Brandsma, ING’s Global Head of Real Estate and Infrastructure, adds: “Our greatest impact is partnering with clients to assist them in upgrading their brown assets, using transition finance and deep sector expertise to help make their projects more sustainable.”

While regions continue to invest into projects sustainably, political instability and policy shifts like the removal of climate tax incentives continue to pose challenges to the global sustainable finance market. 

Despite this, many organisations continue to prioritise sustainability as a key strategy, focusing on methods of long-term climate investment, competitive advantages and innovation.

Discussing the market, ING’s Global Head of Sustainable Solutions Group, Jacomijn Vels, says: “The transition path is full of unknowns and can be messy, but it is also full of opportunity. We’re helping clients cut through the disorder to manage risk, unlock value and protect it for the long term.”