GREEN BOND FINANCING FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CASE STUDY ON SOUTH AFRICA

The thesis seeks to study and review how the green bond market has expanded over the years and the contribution green bond financing made to the sustainable economic growth of developing countries, a focused-on South Africa's economy. Green bonds can be used in an infinite number of ways to finance businesses or initiatives that benefit the environment. Today, the fight for sustainable or green economy and the fight against climate change has witnessed a major financial obstacle. Recently, during the United Nation Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, a joint agreement by member countries have set an annual financing of USD300 billion by 2035 for developing countries to fight climate change and its impacts (UNCCC COP29, 2024). However, a good number of dignitaries from developing countries cried that the said amount is small and the develop countries should pay more because most of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world and this caused mass climate destructions which are faced mostly by developing countries. Innovative financial instruments have emerged as a result of the call for sustainable development in order to address environmental and climate issues that hinder sustainable economic growth. With green financing through green bonds, the funding gap necessary to fight climate change and its impacts could be made easy and accessible to all. Green bonds instrument can be placed in both public and private funds to support sustainable economic growth and energy efficiency. Inconclusion, the thesis will add to the growing body of knowledge on green bond financing and give policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders about how green bonds market is expanding and how its supporting sustainable economic growth and promoting the shift to green economy. In addition, the thesis uses secondary data from Bloomberg, climate bond Initiative database and the world bank data indicator. The study is conducted by reviewing existing literatures and basic data analysis techniques will be performed using Microsoft Excel, including regression analysis and correlation analysis be to examine the relations or co-movement between sustainable economic growth, green bond issuance, renewable energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission in South Africa.