Primary market green bond pricing - Is there a difference in issue price between green bonds and non-green bonds in the primary bond market

Sammanfattning: In this paper we examine if labelled green bonds are issued at a different issue price relative to par compared to conventional non-green bonds. We use a matching method and estimate the differences in issue price between a set of green bonds and otherwise similar conventional bonds. The result suggests that green bonds tend to be issued at a similar issue price relative to par compared to conventional bonds. This result can however not be interpreted as indicating the non-existence of a green premium, except under a list of strong assumptions which we are not able to control for in this paper. Our study restricts itself to Eurobonds denominated in EUR, USD and SEK, and issued during the time period 2015 to 2019.