By 418 votes to 79 with 72 abstentions, the European Parliament approved the provisional agreement with the Council of the European Union on the creation of ‘European Green Bonds’ (EuGB) (see EUROPE 13132/17) at its plenary session on Thursday 5 October.
The aim of the text is to enable investors to direct their investments towards more sustainable technologies and companies, in line with the EU taxonomy. “The European regulation on green bonds brings three elements to the green bond market: transparency, trust and transition’, emphasised the text’s rapporteur, Paul Tang (S&D, Dutch), during the debate on Wednesday 4 October.
“We have won an important battle against greenwashing”, he said in a statement. “Our new law prevents companies from using green bonds to wash their ‘brown’ business. This is guaranteed by putting mandatory transition plans at the centre of the new European green bond rules”, he added.
The rapporteur recalled that the European People’s Party wanted all companies, including big oil majors, to be able to issue green bonds. We ensured that European green bonds will only be issued by companies with credible transition plans, he emphasised.
“The text introduces a voluntary standard meeting other funds to peer the green label without true compliance. This remains a problem”, retorted Ville Niinistö (Greens/EFA, Finnish). His group largely abstained.
The MEP also criticised the Council’s initial position, which was to authorise “flexibility pockets” of up to 15%, thus opposing “comprehensive regulation”. He did, however, acknowledge the progress that has been made, particularly in terms of greater transparency in forecasts and the nuclear sector.
Read the regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/8wv (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)