This paper analyses the market for green securitizations in Italy. Green securitizations are financial instruments for which there are currently no universally accepted definitions or standard methodologies to identify them. Firstly, we discuss possible definitions and ways to identify these instruments. Secondly, we describe the main characteristics of the market for green securitizations originated by banks in Italy during the decade 2010-19.
Banks' securitized loans to 'brown' (less sustainable) economic activities grew much more rapidly than those to 'green' ones, suggesting that banks preferred to keep loans to 'green' activities in their balance sheets. We also show that the usual indexes of carbon content of Italian banks' loans overestimate the amount of financed emissions if they do not take banks' securitizations into account.
