Accelerating Green Bond Market Growth : The role of the EU Taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard
Abstract: The interest for green investments has risen rapidly in the past years and with it, the green bond market. In line with the EU’s new Green Deal for a sustainable future, a Taxonomy of sustainable activities has been released along with a complementary green bond framework, the EU Green bond standard (EU GBS). Within the literature, there is a consensus that the green bond market has not yet reached its full potential and a number of obstacles for market growth have been identified. The new EU GBS is predicted to have an impact on the market, but it is not clear what it will look like, what role it will take on the market, and if it has the prerequisites to become the new market praxis framework. As the EU GBS will have an impact on the market, it could also have an impact on the obstacles for market growth. It is also at this stage uncertain if the EU GBS will contribute with new obstacles. Findings show that the EU GBS does have the prerequisites to become the standard framework on the market. It has advantages in being closely linked to the mandatory Taxonomy as well as a credible organization behind it. However, there are many other options, and it may be difficult for some issuers to issue an EU GBS as the criteria is set high. The EU GBS could help overcome some of the obstacles, but could also make some worse. It could open some doors, such as new sectors for green bonds and a common standard among European countries which could simplify the process. However, the uncertainty around it, the highly set thresholds and the do no significant harm criteria could decrease its growth. There are also issues around possible sub optimization and its credibility due to the notable presence of politics in the decision-making process.
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