Italy Raises €8.5B in Europe’s Biggest-Ever Green Bond Debut

Italy delivered the largest debut of sovereign green bonds from a European issuer ever with over €8B raised and €80B in orders. The high demand highlights popularity of green bonds and follows Poland, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherland’s entrance into the green debt market, among others. The bond was issued with a 1.547% yield as underwriters were able to reduce the premium against normal Italian bonds to 0.12 percentage points. Spain plans to follow Italy with a green bond offering in the second half of 2021.