ING mobilises €110bn in sustainable finance in Q1-Q3 2025, highlighting sustainable data centres

Seoul, South Korea, 6 January 2026 – ING has released its latest Sustainable Finance Pulse (Issue 8, 2025), announcing it mobilised EUR 110 billion in sustainable finance over the first nine months of 2025. This performance was underpinned by solid growth across all three quarters, with Q3 2025 alone contributing EUR 43.3 billion—up 54% compared to Q3 2024.

ING highlighted that despite rapid policy shifts and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, the global sustainable finance market continues to show resilience. Global sustainable finance issuance totalled USD 1,231 billion in 9M 2025—slightly below the USD 1,298 billion recorded over the same period in 2024, but above 2023 levels. However, issuance in Q3 2025 amounted to USD 377 billion, down 14% from the previous quarter.

Regional trends continue to diverge. Asia-Pacific (APAC) has recorded consecutive annual growth since 2021 and is on track for another record year, with USD 345 billion in sustainable finance issuance in 9M 2025. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), issuance reached USD 592 billion in 9M 2025, below the USD 634 billion recorded in 2024, while Q3 issuance exceeded last year’s level. The US also delivered a stronger Q3 than Q2, but total issuance of USD 240 billion for 9M 2025 still lagged last year’s level.

ING delivers robust growth in Q3 2025

Against this backdrop, ING mobilised EUR 110 billion in sustainable finance in 9M 2025, marking a 29% increase compared to EUR 85.3 billion in 9M 2024. Q3 2025 was a particularly strong quarter, delivering 54% growth versus Q3 2024.

Green loans have now overtaken sustainability-linked loans (SLLs) as ING’s leading product category, followed by SLLs and green bonds. The uptick in green lending has been observed across all regions, driven by financing needs for renewables as well as strong demand for highly efficient data centres and real estate.

ING saw the number of sustainable finance transactions increase across all regions. EMEA accounted for 62% of total volume mobilised, followed by the US (24%) and Asia-Pacific (14%).

Helen Jung, country manager for ING Korea, commented, “The performance achieved this year underscores our continued leadership in sustainable finance. The strong momentum in green lending—now our largest product category—reflects the emerging megatrend of AI and data centres which will spur the demand for renewable energy including offshore winds. To support our clients, we aim to serve as a key source of funding for energy-efficient technologies, supporting Korea’s transition to a self-sustaining renewable energy economy. We’re proud to see growth across every region, and we remain committed to supporting our clients as they transition to a low-carbon economy.”

ING at the forefront of sustainable data centre finance

Attention is also gaining on the sustainability of data centres amid rapidly growing demand for digital infrastructure. Data centres, often described as the “engine of the digital world,” provide the computing power needed to store, transport and process digital data for a wide range of services. By 2030, the volume of digital data is expected to be more than 20 times higher than in 2018, driving increased demand for financing sustainable data centres.

In response, investors are turning to more sophisticated financing structures that reflect local market maturity and competitive dynamics. In the US, more sophisticated financing structures such as asset-backed securitisations (ABS) are commonly used, and Europe is gradually following this trend. In 2025, ING helped lead the first euro-denominated ABS transaction for data centres—a EUR 640 million deal with Vantage Data Centres.

On a broader level, it is to be noted that the International Energy Agency expects a 130% increase by 2030 from today’s requirements. This has led to a stronger push for renewable energy, such as solar power, which is getting cheaper, can be expanded easily, and does not create direct emissions. In some places, new data centres are being built right next to new solar power plants. Also, large data centres can help stabilise electricity supplies because they use a steady amount of power, which is helpful as more renewable energy is used.

ING is a pioneer in data centre financing and has completed more than 200 data centre transactions worldwide. Most recently, ING acted as Joint Sustainability Coordinator for AirTrunk—a hyperscale data centre operator in the Asia-Pacific region—on financing a USD 2.24 billion green data centre in Singapore.

Min Joo Kang, senior economist at ING Korea, said “Data centres are the backbone of the digital economy and the key to unlocking the full potential of AI. In response, the US and China, South Korea’s two largest trading partners, are pouring vast sums into building bigger, more advanced data centres and securing the energy to power them. These developments could potentially create positive spillover effects for the Korean economy, given its high dependence on semiconductors. Right now, we expect GDP to grow 2.0% year-on-year in 2026 from 1.2% in 2025.”

South Korea’s data center market is experiencing rapid growth. According to the Korea Data Center Council, the Korean data center market is expected to grow to approximately KRW 10 trillion by 2028. On the back of this strong growth trajectory, Korean companies are increasingly turning their attention to sustainability focused or green data centers. Notably, SK Group and Amazon Web Services announced a partnership in 2025 to invest USD 5.1 billion in a hyperscale AI data center in Ulsan. Leading domestic operators including LG Uplus and Kakao have developed advanced facilities with optimized energy efficiency, demonstrating Korea’s emerging position as a premier destination for next-generation digital infrastructure.

The Korean government continues to emphasize sustainability, introducing the Green Data Center Certification (GDC) system and targeting 20% and 35% renewable energy usage by 2030 and 2040, respectively. Green data centers, which aim to minimize power consumption while maximizing efficiency, represent a new alternative for enhancing sustainability. Through GDC certification, companies are assessed on factors such as energy efficiency and the adoption of eco-friendly technologies, supporting them to operate more sustainable data centers.

Louise Kim, director of Sustainable Solutions Group at ING Korea, said, “Over the next three to five years, ING will place a focus on financing eco-friendly data centres and broader digital infrastructure throughout Asia, including Korea. As AI reshapes the global landscape, defining robust and sustainable financing ambitions for digital infrastructure is essential to fuel the next era of innovation and accelerate the transition to a resilient, low-carbon future.”

Society is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. So are our clients, and so is ING. We finance a lot of sustainable activities, but we still finance more that’s not. See how we’re progressing on Opens in a new tabing.com/climate.