Refine
Document type
- Bachelor Thesis (3)
Language
- English (3) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- No (3)
Keywords
- Green bonds (3) (remove)
Course of studies
This Thesis analyses the difference in the impact of the issuance of a green bond on the stock prices of the issuing entity by country, using an event study approach of 135 green bonds, by comparing the actual daily returns of the event window with the expected returns calculated from the estimation window. With only a slight influence of the country found, further factors effecting the impact are considered. While we conclude that German issuers tend to see a stronger impact than most issuers from other European countries, factors such as the risk of greenwashing, time of issuance, industry, and firm fundamentals appear to skew this impact so that it is not possible to make a definitive statement about the impact of the country of origin on the effectiveness of green bond issuances at providing excess stock returns.
This paper aims to evaluate the European Green Bond market's current state by analyzing the issuer countries, types, and sectors. Moreover, the impact of regulatory developments in the last two years on the market is analyzed. As a basis for discussion, both literature review and qualitative research in the form of a semi-structured interview were conducted. The interviews were held with four market experts to gain insight into the actual market's reaction to the EU Green Bond Standard and the upcoming EU Taxonomy. In detail, the following questions are answered: What is the current state of the European Green Bond Market? How many bonds are currently issued in Europe and in which countries? Which entities are the most active issuers, and to which sectors do they belong? What are the current developments with regards to regulations? How might upcoming regulations affect the market actors? The European green bond market made up 45% of the global market in 2019, dominated by Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, and Italy. The market is still in its growth phase, with the amount issued nearly doubling each year. With the introduction of an EU Green Bond Standard, detailed standardization and framework is established. It will help issuers to overcome market barriers such as the risk of greenwashing and helps in identifying eligible projects. However, with the alignment of the EU GBS, an entity has to align with the extensive EU Taxonomy as well, which represents entry barriers to else willing corporations. Whether an activity counts as green or not based on thresholds is defined by the classification of economic activities. The thresholds are heavily discussed in the market as either too high and excluding whole sectors from the market or too low and not ambitious enough. The alignment with the EU GBS and thus with the EU Taxonomy is connected to various efforts. Nonetheless, it offers a great chance for the market by emphasizing the need for climate action. Through this, a strong green market can emerge and hopefully impacts the world positively.
The present thesis attempts to answer the question “What makes a bond green?” by analysing the current status of the green bond market with regards to its regulation and evaluating the need for harmonizing green bond standards.
A green bond, which is characterized by allocating its proceeds exclusively to climate-related or environmental projects, is a relatively novel sustainable financing instrument that has recorded exponential growth since the first issuance in 2007. The green bond market has developed as a privately regulated market leading to a range of different green bond standards and other market mechanisms used for verifying green bonds, of which some have developed into best practice followed by most issuers. This fragmented regulation and the lack of a globally accepted green bond standard leads to the difficulty in clearly identifying what makes a bond green.
By analysing the current best practice and comparing green bond standards this paper identifies the differences between existing standards and suggests the further harmonization of standards as an important prerequisite for the further growth of the green bond market. Consequently, the challenges related to the private nature of green bond regulation is reviewed, leading to the conclusion that the intervention of the government and establishment of public regulation for green bonds could be considered. With regards to the further expansion of the green bond market the EU Green Bond Standard that is currently under development by the European Commission is critically analysed.