Green Bond Pricing: A Comprehensive Review of the Empirical Literature

As green finance grows, green bonds have become an essential tool for funding sustainable projects. While many studies explore whether green bonds exhibit a “green premium,” existing literature reviews often lack depth, timeliness, and consistent methodology. This paper addresses these gaps by systematically reviewing 70 empirical studies on green premiums published up to 2025, making it the most comprehensive review to date. We organize the literature by region (Global, U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific), market segment, premium dimension, data source, and estimation method, offering a structured framework to analyze diverse findings. Our analysis reveals a consistent negative green premium of −12.44 bps on average across most markets, with European and Asian markets showing higher yield spreads than the U.S. Studies using more recent data report smaller premiums, and larger bond issues tend to have lower premiums. Despite variations in methods and data sources, the overall results are consistent. This paper provides an updated overview of green premium research and offers key insights for investors, issuers, and policymakers on green finance pricing and investment strategies.