The Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) set up by the EU Commission in July 2018 has launched a call for feedback on its preliminary recommendations for the development of an EU Green Bond Standard.
Following up on the Commission’s Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth, the Technical Expert Group is sharing its preliminary results on how such an EU Green Bond Standard could look like, and calling on interested stakeholders and experts for their feedback. The ultimate aim is to channel substantial financial investments into green activities by developing an EU label that would address barriers to the green bond market development. The Technical Expert Group proposes a voluntary EU Green Bond Standard building on existing market practices and designed to be compatible with them. The standard would rely on a strong verification and an accreditation structure and will be closely linked to the new EU-wide classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities (‘EU taxonomy’).
Feedback from stakeholders is especially requested on key barriers to the development of the green bond market, eligible use of proceeds raised, reporting and verification requirements, as well as on possible incentives to help the European green bond market grow. The results of this exercise will feed into the work of the TEG and its final recommendations to the Commission, which will be presented in June 2019.
Stakeholders are invited to comment on the TEG’s interim report by responding to a targeted questionnaire by 3 April 2019. More information available here.
