Is the Government always greener?

We investigate whether public issuers obtain cheaper funding for green projects than their private peers. Analysing 5.905 green bonds placed worldwide between 2014 and 2021, we find that government entities secure yields about 50 basis points below comparable non-government bonds, with the discount widening to nearly 70 basis points in 2019–2021. Sovereigns lead this advantage, but the benefit is visible across the whole public sector. Country characteristics – strong climate-policy scores, high public-debt ratios, and lower income levels – help explain cross-sectional differences in the spread, while episodes of heightened geopolitical or policy uncertainty further enlarge it. Taken together, the evidence points to a clear “public balance-sheet premium”, indicating that green-bond pricing is jointly governed by issuer identity and time-varying global risk conditions.