The European Commission has executed its first green bond auction by raising €2.5 billion in NextGenerationEU green bonds.

The auction is part of the €50 billion in bonds that the Commission intends to sell under its NextGenerationEU recovery programme in the first half of 2022.

“The €2.5 billion were issued via a tap of the €12-billion 15-year first NextGenerationEU green bond, that the Commission placed on the market on 12 October 2021,” said the Commission.

“The auction supports the secondary market liquidity of the first NextGenerationEU green Bond and confirms the Commission’s commitment to the market for sustainable finance.

“The bond, has been issued under the NextGenerationEU green bond framework published in September last year.

“The bond is part of the €50 billion in long-term funding the Commission intends to issue under its NextGenerationEU recovery programme in the first half of 2022, as announced in its funding plan for the period January-June 2022 …

“… the Commission has so far issued a total of €73.5 billion bonds under its up to around €800 billion NextGenerationEU recovery programme.

“In an expression of its commitment to sustainability, the Commission intends to issue 30% of the amount, or up to €250 billion, in NextGenerationEU green bonds.”