Summary
Details
- Global
Bond issuers seeking to issue GBP-aligned green bonds and the underwriters and investors evaluating them. The GBP are explicitly positioned as voluntary process guidelines rather than regulation.
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Background
The GBP were first published in 2014 as voluntary guidelines to promote integrity in the emerging green bond market. They are updated periodically: the June 2025 edition reiterates their mission to promote transparency and disclosure and notes they are updated to reflect market evolution. A notable 2025 update is the explicit reference to “Green Enabling Projects” (activities that may not be green on their own but are necessary to enable eligible green projects), and an update to include “activities” in the definition of Green Projects.
Reporting Implications of the GBP
Reporting is one of the four core components of the Green Bond Principles, aimed at promoting transparency around how proceeds are used and the environmental effects of funded projects. Issuers are expected to disclose information both before and after issuance, in summary as follows:
Issuers must disclose information about how Green Bond proceeds will be tracked and used to fund eligible green projects as part of pre-issuance transparency.
After issuance, issuers are expected to provide allocation reporting, showing how net proceeds have been allocated to eligible projects until full allocation.
Where feasible, issuers should include impact reporting, describing the expected or actual environmental benefits of the funded projects.
While voluntary, external reviews or verification of reporting and allocation practices are widely used to enhance credibility and investor confidence.
Current Status and Outlook
The GBP are active and widely used as the global baseline for use-of-proceeds green bonds, with updates released as market practice evolves, e.g., the 2025 edition’s additions on enabling projects and “activities”.
At the same time, the market is moving toward more formal rules in some jurisdictions. In the EU, for example, the European Green Bond (EuGB) Regulation creates a regulated label for “European Green Bonds” and links eligibility to EU taxonomy criteria, with defined transparency and external review expectations.
Practically, many issuers will continue using GBP as the core market reference, while some (especially EU-facing issuers) may add EuGB alignment for the regulatory label where it fits their funding strategy.
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