Green bond
A bond whose proceeds are ring-fenced for identified environmental projects, and whose value rests entirely on verifying that ring-fence.
Since December 21, 2024, an issuer that wants the European green bond label must allocate at least 85% of proceeds to taxonomy-aligned activities and be checked by an external reviewer registered with ESMA. That is Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 of November 22, 2023, and it stays voluntary; most of the market still issues under ICMA's Green Bond Principles. On credit, a green bond is like any other, and the investor carries the issuer's signature alone. What it adds is a promise about the use of proceeds and the checks on it, an annual allocation report and an external review. The known weakness is that cash is fungible: an issuer can fund with green debt spending it would have made anyway, and additionality is missing. For an insurer these securities count twice, in the portfolio and in the taxonomy alignment ratios it has to publish.
Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 of November 22, 2023 created the European green bond standard, applicable from December 21, 2024. To use the label, an issuer must allocate proceeds to taxonomy-aligned activities and be verified by a registered external reviewer.
green bond, climate bond
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