Green bond rules need to be on par with global trends

China, the largest green bond issuer in the world, needs to make further improvements in market infrastructure by increasing private participation, developing an offshore market and aligning its domestic green bond issuance standards with international ones, experts said.

The country issued over $23 billion in green bonds in the first 10 months of 2017, representing 22 percent of total bond issuances of $106 billion in the same period, according to a global green bond research report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The current global green bond market comprises more than 550 issuers from 45 countries in 29 currencies.

Most of the recent green bond issuances have been driven by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, which published separate green bond standards and quotas in December 2015.