The document discusses the development of green corporate bonds in Greece according to European standards. It analyzes the key concepts of green bonds, the EU Taxonomy Regulation, and the EU Green Bond Framework. The study examines the growth of the green bond market and issues in Greece. It identifies the regulatory framework around climate change in Europe and policies that impact green bond markets. The EU Taxonomy Regulation and proposed European Green Bond Standard aim to further transparency and prevent greenwashing in the market. The study concludes these tools could help develop the market but challenges remain around data and measuring the effectiveness of regulations.

1. GREEN CORPORATE BONDS IN GREECE:
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK
FOR THE ISSUANCE OF GREEN BONDS, THROUGH
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CRITERIA ACCORDING
TO EUROPEAN STANDARDS (EU GREEN BOND
FRAMEWORK & EU TAXONOMY REGULATION)
Lefteris Barbatsalos

2. Scope of study
The present study deals with
three key concepts of great
importance: Green Bonds, EU
Taxonomy Regulation, EU
Green Bond Framework
The huge growth of the Green
Bond market worldwide and
the development of Greek
Corporate Green Bonds in last
years
The growing interest of
investors in climate change
and the preference for
financing investments that
contribute to the transition to
a carbon-neutral economy
Publication of the EU
Taxonomy Regulation
2020/852
Personal professional interest
in developing sustainability
reports
The present study (literature research approach) covers the institutional and
legislative interventions that form the green bond market and the impact they
have on the development of a common European Green Bond Standard. Finally,
data from the Greek Green Bond Market are examined

3. Aims of Study
Identifying policies and initiatives at European level to tackle climate
change and linking them to legislative measures that have a major
impact on the economic development of European countries
The interaction created by the changes in the regulatory
framework in the Green Bond Market
Highlighting quality data for the development of the Green Bond
market with emphasis on Corporate Greek Green Bonds
Explain the importance of the EU Taxonomy regulation and the
European Green Bond Standard as tools for further development
of the Green Bond Market

4. Green Economy – Legal Environment
▪ Kyoto Protocol ( 2005 in force)
Committing industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gases
(GHG) emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets
▪ Paris Agreement (2016)
legally binding international treaty on climate change. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2,
preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
▪ European Green Agreement (2019)
Proposals aimed at adapting EU climate, energy, transport and tax policies to reduce clean greenhouse gas
emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
▪ European Climate Law (2021)
Law the goal set out in the European Green Deal for Europe’s economy and society to become climate-neutral by
2050The law also sets the intermediate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030,
compared to 1990 levels.

5. Green Bond Market
▪ In 2007 European Investment Bank issued the first green
bond
▪ In recent years (2015 tο 2019), the largest issuer of
green bonds is the European Union
▪ The issuance of green bonds in 2019 compared to 2014
have increased by more than 700% (from 28 billion
euros to 230 billion euros)
▪ The most common form of tackling climate change to
date is the imposition of environmental taxes.
▪ The Greek economy was slow to adopt the shift to a
green economy and in this context, there was a delay in
the growth of green financial products
▪ The issuance of the first green corporate bond took
place in October 2019 by TERNA S.A.
Company
Name
Worth Of
Bond
Interest
Rate
Maturity Purpose of
Publication
TERNA SA 150 M € 2,6 % 7 years Finance and Refinance
Wind Farms
NATIONAL BANK
OF GREECE SA
500 Μ € 2,875 % 6 years Finance Energy
Projects
MYTILINEOS SA 500 Μ € 2,25 % 5,5 years RES and Productions of
Green Aluminum
PIRAEUS BANK
SA
500 Μ € 2,7 % 6 years Finance and Refinance
Wind Farms

6. Greenwashing
▪ The issuance of green bonds could be a form of deception of investors for the environmental awareness
of the company and its intention to contribute decisively to the protection of the environment
▪ The use of green bonds without them being actually linked to financing environmental protection
operations but only for characterizing the company as environmentally sensitive is called “Greenwashing
▪ The choice of green bonds by companies for access to cheaper lending as investors often reward green
companies with lower interest rates in order to promote more environmentally friendly growth.
▪ The issuance of green bonds usually has one of the following three objectives:
1. The signaling of the company as committed to environmentally friendly actions and policies
2. Take advantage of investors intention to finance companies that promote environmental
practices and policies but do not actually apply green practices
3. Access to cheaper financing compared to traditional financing

7. Green bond regulatory framework
In 2014 the principles of the Green Bond
(GBP) were issued by a consortium of
major investment banks: A set of
guidelines that has been audited by the
ICMA, which operates as an independent
authority. The purpose is to promote the
market of green bonds with voluntary
instructions (principles) as well as to
ensure quality information to all
stakeholders (issuers, banks, investors,
regulators, etc.).
The four core components for alignment
with the GBP are:
1. Use of Proceeds
2. Process for Project Evaluation and
Selection
3. Management of Proceeds
4. Reporting
Green Bond
Principles
EU
Taxonomy
Regulation
2020/852
The framework for the
European Green Bond standard
links the use of green bond
revenues with the EU
Taxonomy. The standard is
setting up a registration system
for independent external
verifiers.
There are 4 basic conditions
for using the European Green
Bond Standard:
1. Classification:
2. Transparency:
3. External review:
4. Supervision by the European
Securities Market Authority
(ESMA) of Reviewers:
European
Green Bond
Standard
A commonly accepted classification
system for sustainable economic
activities Under this regulation, an
economic activity must meet
certain conditions in order to be
environmentally sustainable. More
specifically:
1. Contribute substantially to one
or more environmental objectives
2. Not to significantly harm any of
the environmental goals that have
been set.
3. To be carried out in accordance
with the minimum specifications
that have been set.
4. To comply with the technical
control criteria set by the
Commission.

8. Taxonomy Regulation for Disclosures
▪ Point of particular importance for the companies and public is Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation
for disclosures: To provide investors with detailed information on the environmental performance of
company’s assets. Aims to significantly enhance transparency in order to deal with greenwashing effects
✓ Non-financial corporations are required to disclose their share of turnover, capital and operating
expenses related to environmentally sustainable economic activities
✓ Financial enterprises: the main performance targets of enterprises are related to the percentage of
environmentally sustainable economic activities in their financial activities, such as lending and
investment
▪ The aim is to prevent climate-damaging investments but at the same time to prioritize activities that can
enhance the achievement of environmental pollution reduction policies
▪ This will lead all companies looking for funding in order to be financed on good terms and at reasonable
costs, to make practical efforts to achieve the climate targets.

9. Discussion - Conclusions
▪ Over time, the United States has cumulatively the
highest emissions VS in recent years China with a
huge difference from the second, emits the most in
order to achieve high growth rate
▪ The Greek economy seems to have a comparative
advantage in this transition with the development of
renewable energy sources that can replace its
activities with high concentration in the use of
carbon and emissions
▪ Green bonds do not differ from regular bonds in
legal, operational and economic terms - strong
demand from investors around the world
▪ Green Bond despite their huge growth, they remain
very low in percentage of total bonds market
▪ The main obstacle to investing in a green bond is
limited transparency. One of the key issues for green
bonds is the transparency and verification
procedures
▪ The need for a common language led to the initiative of the
European Commission for the development of a European
Green Bond Standard
▪ The publication of the EU Taxonomy regulation is a key tool
for further developing the green bond market and securing
financing for sustainable projects and activities
▪ Sustainable green funding requires a coherent regulatory
framework based on transparency and independent
disclosure
▪ The provision of high-quality information and the creation of
risk reports on sustainability issues and not only financially
is essential for the Green European Bond Standard and the
EU Taxonomy regulation to achieve their goal
▪ European Green Bond Standard is not designed to be the
one and only standard but will used at the same time with
Climate Bonds Standard and ICMA Bond Principles
▪ EU Taxonomy Regulation will be a major weapon against
greenwashing and a possible obligatory implementation of
European Green Bond Standard could be crucial.

10. Limitations of Study – Further Studies
Limitations
❖ Non - use of green bond data for the years 2020
and 2021 due to pandemic prevention measures
that significantly affected the development of this
market
❖ Due to the nature of the study, no quantitative
research was conducted with data from green
bonds, certification procedures and use of
proceeds in order to measure possible
correlations. The present study focus on the legal
and regulatory framework of Green Bonds issues
❖ Lack of enough Greek Green Bond data for further
analysis and interpretation
Future Studies
❖ Measuring the effectiveness of the EU Taxonomy
Regulation in the fight against greenwashing as to
date it has not been tested and its potential
success is theoretical
❖ Quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis
of the use of available green bond certification
standards and their contribution to the
development of the green bond market

11. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
“Climate change is the result of the greatest market failure that the world has seen”