ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) has been directly supervising external verifiers of European green bonds since 21 December 2024, with a transitional regime until 21 June 2026 for formal registration. This supervision is a major innovation compared to market standards.

The share of dedicated ESG orders for the EIB's inaugural issuance reached approximately 10%, compared to only 5% for traditional ICMA green bonds. This shows an increased preference for EuGBs among ESG investors.

The EIB's inaugural issuance in April 2025 generated an order book of €40 billion for an issued amount of €3 billion, representing a thirteen-fold oversubscription. This demonstrates strong demand for EuGBs.

Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 requires at least 85% of funds to be aligned with the EU Taxonomy, with a 15% flexibility allowance for activities not yet covered. This distinguishes it from other standards such as the ICMA Green Bond Principles, where alignment is merely recommended.

The utilities and financial sectors together account for 60% of green bonds aligned with the EU Taxonomy, which shows a sectoral concentration. Other sectors are less represented.

No, the European Commission has not pursued alignment of the NextGenerationEU programme with the EuGB standard, despite an unallocated taxonomy-aligned pool of €53.5 billion. This limits the scalability of the standard.

Yes, the Regulation requires mandatory external verification by verifiers registered with ESMA, unlike voluntary standards such as the ICMA Green Bond Principles where verification is merely recommended.