Here at (long) last - Regulation on European Green Bonds published in the Official Journal of the EU

On 30 November 2023, the Regulation on European Green Bonds and optional disclosures for bonds marketed as environmentally sustainable and for sustainability-linked bonds (the “EU GBS”) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Regulation will enter into force on 20 December 2023 and will apply from 21 December 2024, meaning that it will likely be 2025 before we see the first issuers to use the label.

The Regulation introduces: (i) a voluntary label for issuers of green use of proceeds bonds where proceeds are fully allocated to economic activities aligned with the EU Taxonomy Regulation (subject to some limited flexibility); and (ii) creates an optional disclosure regime for bonds marketed as environmentally sustainable and sustainability-linked bonds. 

There is still more work to be done by the European Commission and ESMA by way of rulemaking or guidelines to follow - in particular when it comes to the optional disclosure regime for bonds marketed as environmentally sustainable and sustainability-linked bonds and the regime applicable to external reviewers. 

The EU GBS - which comes with rigorous allocation and transparency requirements - will be the first standard of its kind globally. 

For more detail on the Regulation, see our earlier blog post and our podcast series.