Member States Sovereign Green Bond Issuance and the Development of Local Green Bond Markets in the EU

Współautorstwo: Smoleńska, Agnieszka

Greening the Bond Market : A European Perspective / edited by David Ramos Muñoz, Agnieszka Smoleńska. Cham : Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, s. 51-77.

In 2016 Poland was the first EU country to issue a Green Bond Principles-aligned bond to finance environmental projects. Since then, sovereign issuance in the EU grew enormously. In just over five years the market grew to over 290 bn euro outstanding sovereign ESG bonds in the EU in 2022. 16 Member States have chosen to issue green and social bonds in that time. In this chapter, we analyse the features of these bond issuances and in particular, their conditions, objectives and governance structures. Member States choose to issue green bonds in order to finance specific sustainability transition projects, facilitate the development of local sustainable finance markets and diversify their investor base. While ICMA Green Bond standards are followed by all EU sovereign issuers, we observe significant heterogeneity in terms of the implemented governance mechanisms as well as early uptake of new EU rules (EU Green Bond Regulation, Green Taxonomy). In this context, we specifically discuss the conditions under which sustainable sovereign issuance contributes to the development of local green bond markets, focusing in particular on less developed capital markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

Constitutional dimension of the competition law of the EU in sports

EU Antitrust : Hot Topics & Next Steps : Proceedings of the International Conference Held in Prague on January 24-25, 2022 / Václav Šmejkal (ed.) – Praha: Charles University, 2022, s. 581-593.

The debate on the potential of the competition law of the EU to pursue noneconomic objectives is currently vividly discussed in the doctrine. Most frequently it is conducted on the example of the digital gatekeepers, environmental protection, or public health objectives. However, one of the fields, in which the social impact of the antitrust law is the most visible is quite surprisingly sports. The most recent examples of the application of the provisions of the competition law of the EU to sports show that it has great potential in strengthening the level of protection for the rights of individuals, hence it gains constitutional dimension. Its objective in application to sports is more socio-oriented than economically – it can become a useful legal tool for increasing the level of protection of fundamental rights to the fair trial of the athletes, maintain openness, accessibility, and significance of sports in the society and help implement accountability and proportionality in the governance of sport disciplines across the EU.