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European Green Bonds are here and come with new post-issuance reporting standards

European Union - 

The regulation establishing a standard for issuers using the designation 'European Green Bonds' (EuGB) is now in effect, but the legislative process is not yet complete: a new delegated regulation, currently under consultation, details all the post-issuance information that must be provided.

Since December 21, 2024, the European Green Bond standard (set out in Regulation 2023/2361) has been directly applicable, as we anticipated a year ago (see here), following the standardization process initiated by the European Union in 2018 (which we explained here).

The purpose of the European regulation is to create a uniform scheme and rules for issuers who intend to use the designation of European Green Bond or EuGB in their issuances. As a brief reminder, to use the EuGB designation, issuers must:

  • Before the maturity of the EuGB, allocate the proceeds received from its issuance (net of issuance costs) entirely in accordance with the taxonomy requirements (covered by Regulation EU 2020/852). This includes fixed assets other than financial assets, capital expenditures, operating expenses, financial assets created no more than 5 years after the issuance of the EuGB, and household assets and expenses, all in accordance with the requirements of the aforementioned taxonomy ("gradual approach").
  • Alternatively, the proceeds from one or more BVEu can be allocated to a portfolio of fixed or financial assets in accordance with the taxonomy requirements ("portfolio approach").
  • -As an exception to the above, issuers may allocate up to 15% of the proceeds from a BVEu to activities that meet the taxonomy requirements but are not officially included because they do not meet the technical selection criteria.

However, according to the European regulation itself, the legislative process is not entirely complete. On December 17, 2024, the European Commission published a draft delegated regulation regarding post-issuance disclosures, including an annex detailing all the post-issuance information that must be provided. Despite still being subject to a consultation process until the end of January 2025, the draft annex anticipates the high level of detail of the periodic information that will need to be provided for each EuGB issuance, to which issuers will need to adapt and prepare resources for compliance. This annex includes a general model for each type of approach (gradual or portfolio) and for any type of bond (including securitization bonds). The draft delegated regulation can be consulted here: EUR-Lex - Ares(2024)9041676 - EN - EUR-Lex.