Sustainable , environmentally oriented, or ‘green’ bonds have been rising in popularity for decades, but the EU’s recent updating of the Green Bond Standard (GBS) could open markets for an accelerated influx of sustainable finance. The GBS will provide with confidence and help ensure that money reaches legitimate sustainability projects worth receiving it. By standardising the taxonomy and obligations of a Green Bond, the GBS should enable the rapid scaling of finance into green projects while also easing reporting, verification, and public transparency.

So what?

As trillions in recovery-package moneys are beginning deployment across the globe, it’s an important time to have standardised ‘green’ bonds in the the world’s largest market – the EU. Governments are seeking to build back better by making investments to raise equity, environmental performance, and competetiveness. Private and institutional investors are also being encouraged to invest and have been doing so increasingly in green projects; this standard will enable further such investment.

What effect might GBS have on markets outside Europe? And, what unforeseen consequences might this new standard produce e.g. could we see the rapid proliferation of projects more easily verified under the new taxonomy?