EU녹색채권규정의 법적 쟁점과 시사점

Despite the rapid growth of the green bond issuance, the market remains largely unregulated, with private institutions stepping in to fill the normative vacuum through voluntary standards and guidelines. Korea is no exception, with a range of global standards, including the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles, and the government-driven domestic guideline, the K-Green Bond Guideline, coexisting in the absence of a unified legal framework. Meanwhile, the recent emergence of Korea’s first reported greenwashing case, filed with the Financial Supervisory Service in connection with the stated use of proceeds of certain green bonds, suggests the need to revisit the legal status of green bonds as financial investment products under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act. In light of the above, this article examines the EU Green Bond Regulation, which entered into full effect in December 2024, to assess its legal implications for Korea. The Regulation establishes a voluntary yet standardized labeling framework for the issuance of green bonds whose proceeds are allocated to activities aligned with the EU Taxonomy, supported by robust enforcement mechanisms applicable to both issuers and external reviewers. Given the central role that green bonds play in sustainable finance in Korea, there is an increasing need to adopt a comparable framework. Such a regime could reduce verification and monitoring costs, mitigate legal risks for institutional investors, and support the development of a more structured green bond classification system.