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European green bonds

Bonds complying with the European Green Bond Standard may be issued under the label ‘European Green Bond’ or ‘EuGB’. The relevant European regulation prescribes, among other things, how the proceeds of the bonds must be allocated and what information the issuer must publish, both pre- and post- issuance.

About the EuGB's

As of 21 December 2024, bonds may be issued using the designation European green bond or EuGB. The EuGB-label is a voluntary standard for bonds complying with Regulation (EU) 2023/2631. This European standard will make it easier for investors to assess the extent to which green bonds contribute to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. This standardisation also increases the efficiency of the European single market and reduces the risk of greenwashing.

Obligations for issuers

Besides the obligation to use the proceeds of the bonds in line with the Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852 and the obligation to have an ‘external review’ conducted by an external reviewer, the Regulation on European Green Bonds has several transparency obligations. For instance, prior to issuing European green bonds, issuers must provide information on how the proceeds will be used in line with the EU Taxonomy in a so-called factsheet, which has to be published together with the positive assessment by an external reviewer. An approved prospectus must also be available.

After issuance of the European Green Bonds, an allocation report must be published annually, until the proceeds are fully allocated, which also must be reviewed by an external reviewer. After full allocation, an impact report must be published, providing information on the environmental impact of using the proceeds. Review by an external reviewer of the impact report is optional. The relevant documents must be published on the issuer's website and remain available until at least a year after the maturity of the European Green Bonds.

Notifying the AFM of published documents

The publication of the information required to be provided under the Regulation on European Green Bonds must be notified to the AFM. This concerns the following documents:

  • The factsheet;
  • The assessment of the factsheet by the external reviewer;
  • The approved prospectus (or a hyperlink to the prospectus);
  • The allocation reports;
  • The review of the allocation reports by the external reviewer;
  • The impact report;
  • The CapEx plan, if applicable; and
  • The review of the impact report (optional).

Please note that any amendments to these documents must also be notified. Notification to the AFM can be done by sending an e-mail to service.prospectus@afm.nl. You will receive an automatic confirmation of receipt. Please mention ‘Publication EuGBs’ in the subject of the email and include the following information:

  • The issuer's registered/statutory name;
  • The contact person of the issuer;
  • Which document type it concerns;
  • The name of the prospectus under which the EuGBs are or have been issued;
  • The hyperlink of the webpage of the issuer’s website on which the document (or hyperlink in     case of the prospectus) has been published;
  • The ISIN of the EuGBs;
  • The (expected) issue date of the EuGBs;
  • The date used by the issuer as the end date of the first reporting period for the allocation report (either twelve months after issue date, the last day of the calendar year, or the last day of the financial year, please see Article 11(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/2631).

    Notifications should be made without undue delay after publication of the relevant documents. Publication of the documents should also be notified to ESMA. Information on this can be found on ESMA's website. For securitised European Green Bonds the publication of the relevant documents must be reported to both the AFM and DNB.