Green bond issuance has surged in recent years in response to growing investor appetite and borrowers' needs as they embark on the sustainability transition. The EU leads the way, with over 40% of all sustainable bond issuances denominated in euro. The EU’s 'Regulation on European Green Bonds and optional disclosures for bonds marketed as environmentally sustainable and sustainability-linked bonds’ is the first comprehensive legislative text covering such issuance, and a cornerstone of EU’s Sustainable Finance strategy. This book explores in an interdisciplinary way the challenges and opportunities of green bonds and sustainable finance from a legal, regulatory and economic perspectives. First, it analyses green bonds as a new financial instrument in the context of the existing capital markets law. Second, it studies green bond impact on the market and on investor protection. Third, it assesses green bonds’ relevance for prudential supervision and central banking. The variety of viewpoints ensures a highly comprehensive analysis of green bonds’ impact in a European and global context.

David Ramos Muñoz is Associate Professor of Commercial Law at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain, where he leads several research projects on finance and climate change, and is part of its Climate Strategic Initiative. He is a Fellow Member ad personam of the Academic Board of the European Banking Institute (EBI), where he leads its Working Group on Finance, Climate Change and Sustainability, and a member of the European Law Institute (ELI).

Agnieszka Smoleńska is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Principal Investigator of “The EU’s sustainability capitalism: identifying the varieties of financial markets transition” research project. She is Associate Researcher with the European Banking Institute, contributing to EBI’s Working Group on Finance, Climate Change and Sustainability.