Quoting from a blog post on SmartPlanet:

Austerity is the new watchword in a Europe that’s encumbered with massive public debt. Governments are now turning to “green” bonds to cover the cost of transitioning Europe to clean sources of energy.

The headline figure in these discussions is €3 trillion. Interestingly this figure is close to the estimated €4 trillion needed to bail out the European banking system, but if this sum is going to be borrowed into existence and then spent to finance a greening of the Old World, it is all for a good cause.