NextGenerationEU: European Commission raises €5 billion in green bonds in successful 10th transaction

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

The European Commission has today issued a further €5 billion in NextGenerationEU green bonds in the 10^th syndicated transaction under the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument. The long 25-year bond due on 4 February 2048 was over six times oversubscribed, a very positive outcome, especially bearing in mind the turbulent market in recent weeks.

With this transaction, the Commission has issued a total of €47.5 billion in the first half of 2022, bringing it one step closer to the €50 billion NextGenerationEU funding target for the first six months of the year.

The Commission has so far raised €118.5 billion in long-term EU bonds under the NextGenerationEU programme since its launch in June 2021, of which €28 billion in NextGenerationEU green bonds. The funds are being used to finance Europe’s economic recovery and long-term resilience via the Recovery and Resilience Facility and other EU budget programmes.

Reacting to the deal, Commissioner in charge of Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn said: “Today’s very successful deal is a demonstration of the leadership position that the EU is gaining in euro-denominated debt, which is particularly important at turbulent times. With this, we continue providing support to the European economies when needed the most.”

In addition to the funds raised under NextGenerationEU between January and June 2022, the Commission has raised €1.5 billion under its macro-financial assistance programmes, of which €1.2 billion under an emergency MFA for Ukraine. This was complemented by €2.17 billion for the EU’s SURE programme to finance short-term employment schemes across the EU Member States.

The Commission will announce its funding target for the second half of the year by the end of June 2022.

Background

NextGenerationEU is a temporary instrument bringing up to €800 billion in support to Europe’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and building a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.

To finance NextGenerationEU, the Commission is borrow up to €800 billion in current prices on capital markets by the end of 2026. Out of the total funds borrowed to date, around 100 billion have been disbursed under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to EU Member States, and a few billion to other budgetary programmes entitled to funding under NextGenerationEU. Live updates are available via the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard.

Up to 30% of the total will be issued as NextGenerationEU green bonds, under the ICMA compliant NextGenerationEU green bond framework. In addition to providing direct support to projects at the heart of Europe’s green transition, NextGenerationEU green bonds strengthen the role of the euro in the market for sustainable investments and confirm the European Commission’s commitment to sustainable finance.

The Commission has published a one-in-a-kind interactive dashboard which provides detailed information about how the financing raised from NextGenerationEU green bonds is invested.

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