EU successfully issues world’s largest green bond package

To date, on Tuesday the European Commission issued the world’s largest green bond package worth EUR 12 billion, raising funds from the financial markets to finance the green parts of its EUR 800 billion coronavirus recovery fund. The latest bond issuance is the fifth in a row since June 2021 and is part of the NextGenerationEU programme.

The 15-year bond was oversubscribed by over 11 times, demonstrating clearly the appetite of financial markets for EU green bonds. The European Union needs the market’s interest and says it plans to issue up to EUR 250 billion worth of green bonds aiming to become the world’s largest green bond issuer.

Under common rules, the EUR 800 billion NextGenerationEU member state participants have to allocate at least 37% of their national recovery and resilience facility (RRF) funds to tackle climate change and finance the green transition.

By the end of 2021, the EC aims to issue a total of EUR 80 billion worth of bonds to raise funding for the Next Generation EU programme.

Sources: Euractiv, European Commission