Sustainable Finance in the EU: Macroeconomic Influences on Green Bond Issuance.
Abstract
This study investigates how macroeconomic indicators, inflation, interest payments, and unemployment rate, and financial market indicators, access, debt, and effectiveness influence green bond issuance by corporates and governments across EU countries. Since the European Investment Bank issued the first “Climate Awareness Bond” in 2007, the green bond market has grown significantly, with Poland and France pioneering sovereign green bonds and private sector participation increasing in 2013. Using panel data, the research examines the relationship between these key economic indicators and the issuance of the green bond in the market at the country level over 10 years. The findings highlight how financial and macroeconomic conditions shape Europe's green bond instruments within the context of the influence of the European Green Deal and the EU's carbon neutrality goals for 2050.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54663/2182-9306.2026.SpecialIssueOMS.47-63
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Adoukonou, O., Jelili, R. B., & Fahmi, Y. (2024, December). Key Drivers of Corporate Green Bond Growth in Europe: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach. In 5th Financial Economics Meeting (FEM-2024).
Agliardi, E., & Agliardi, R. (2019). Financing environmentally-sustainable projects with green bonds. Environment and Development Economics, 24(6), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1355770x19000020
Climate Bonds. (2019). Climate Bonds Initiative. Climate Bonds Initiative. https://www.climatebonds.net/
Cziesielski, M., Dekker-Hufler, C., Pal, T., Nicholls, G., Petsinaris, F., Korteweg, L. (Trinomics), Obersteiner, M., & Khabarov, N. (IIASA). (2024). Study for a methodological framework and assessment of potential financial risks associated with biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation: Final Report. European Commission Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. European Commission. https://doi.org/10.2874/754705
European Commission. (n.d.). The European Green Deal. European Commission. https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
European Environment Agency. (2023, April 28). Green bonds. Www.eea.europa.eu. https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/green-bonds-8th-eap
[EU SDG 13_70a] Green bond issuance by corporates and governments. (2024, November). Europa.eu. https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/datahub/datahubitem-view/a4443de0-8ff0-435c-99a9-72634327aae6
Gianfrate, G., & Peri, M. (2019). The Green Advantage: Exploring the Convenience of Issuing Green Bonds. Journal of Cleaner Production, 219, 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.022
Hachenberg, B., & Schiereck, D. (2018). Are Green Bonds Priced Differently from Conventional bonds? Journal of Asset Management, 19(6), 371–383. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41260-018-0088-5
Hanson, D., Lyons, T., Bender, J., Bertocci, B., & Lamy, B. (2017). Analysts’ Roundtable on Integrating ESG into Investment Decision-Making. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 29(2), 44–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/jacf.12232
Flammer, C. (2021). Corporate Green Bonds. Journal of Financial Economics, 142(2), 499516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.01.010
Lyon, T. P., & Maxwell, J. W. (2011). Greenwash: Corporate Environmental Disclosure under Threat of Audit. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 20(1), 3–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-9134.2010.00282.x
Löffler, K. U., Petreski, A., & Stephan, A. (2021). Drivers of green bond issuance and new evidence on the “greenium.” Eurasian Economic Review, 11(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40822-020-00165-y
MacAskill, S., Roca, E., Liu, B., Stewart, R. A., & Sahin, O. (2020). Is there a green premium in the Green Bond market? Systematic literature review revealing premium determinants. Journal of Cleaner Production, 280(2), 124491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124491
Michael R. Bloomberg. (2017). Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. https://assets.bbhub.io/company/sites/60/2021/10/FINAL-2017-TCFD-Report.pdf
Ren, Y.-S., Ma, C.-Q., Chen, X.-Q., Lei, Y.-T., & Wang, Y.-R. (2023). Sustainable finance and blockchain: A systematic review and research agenda. Research in International Business and Finance, 64, 101871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2022.101871
United Nations. (2015). The 17 Sustainable Development Goals. United Nations. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
Tang, D. Y., & Zhang, Y. (2018). Do Shareholders Benefit from Green Bonds? Journal of Corporate Finance, 61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2018.12.001
Tiftik, E., Mahmood, K., & Nozema, C. (2019). Sustainable finance in focus: Green bonds take root. Institute of International Finance. https://www.iif.com/Portals/0/Files/SF_green_bond_issuance%20vf.pdf
United Nations. (2024). The Paris Agreement. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/paris-agreement
Yang, R., Tang, W., & Zhang, J. (2021). Technology improvement strategy for green products under competition: The role of government subsidy. European Journal of Operational Research, 289(2), 553–568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.07.030
Yuan, X., Murshed, M., & Khan, S. (2023). Does the depth of the financial markets matter for establishing green growth? Assessing financial sector’s potency in decoupling economic growth and environmental pollution. Evaluation Review, 47(6), 1135-1167.
Wang, J., Chen, X., Li, X., Yu, J., & Zhong, R. (2019). The Market Reaction to Green Bond Issuance: Evidence from China. Journal of Corporate Finance, 61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2020.101294
Wu, O. Y. (2022). Are green bonds priced lower than their conventional peers? Emerging Markets Review, 52,100909. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ememar.2022.100909
Zerbib, O. D. (2019). The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds. Journal of Banking & Finance, 98, 39–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2018.10.012
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2026 Amanda Zetzsche, Elif Göksu Öztürk, Cristina Lopes

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
International Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media
ISSN: 2182-9306
DOI: 10.54663/2182-9306
Qualis Periódicos - CAPES: B2
REBIB: Q2
Indexing:
WEB OF SCIENCE (WoS) & JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS (JCR)
QUALIS - GOOGLE SCHOLAR - LATINDEX - REDIB - RCAAP - OAJI - DRJI - MIAR - LIVRE - ERIH PLUS - INDEX COPERNICUS