We actively contribute to the public debate on sustainable finance and engage in dialogue with leading sustainability rating agencies. Our sustainable financial instruments underpin our corporate strategy to develop into a sustainable and innovative infrastructure partner.
Sustainable finance at EnBW
Sustainable financial products contribute to the achievement of the Paris climate targets and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. A further focus of sustainable finance is sustainability in business.
Having already issued several green bonds since 2018, we have additionally incorporated sustainability into other financing instruments with a sustainable syndicated credit line issued by EnBW AG and a green promissory note loan issued by subsidiary VNG AG in 2020.
Green bonds
We issued our first green bond on the capital market in October 2018 and have since issued green bonds totalling €3.5 billion.
In line with our Green Financing Framework, the proceeds from all our green bonds went exclusively to renewable energy projects (onshore/offshore wind and solar/PV), energy efficiency projects (smart meters) and clean transportation (charging infrastructure for electric vehicles). These make a significant contribution to achieving our targets for our two non-financial key performance indicators, which relate to expansion of renewables and climate protection.
For independent assessments of EnBW green bonds, we have obtained both a Second Party Opinion from ISS ESG and CBI certification for all of our green bonds.
Full information on our green bonds, Green Financing Framework, Green Bond Impact Report and more is available here.
Sustainable syndicated credit line
In June 2020, we signed our first sustainable syndicated credit facility with a facility amount of €1.5 billion. The facility is used for general business purposes and replaced, ahead of schedule, the syndicated credit line that expired in July 2021. Its initial five-year term can be extended after the first or second year by one year at a time until June 2027 at the latest.
For the first time, the borrowing costs under the syndicated credit line are tied to EnBW’s sustainability performance. This underscores our commitment to achieving our non-financial targets. Borrowing costs decrease or increase in track with the achievement (or non-achievement) of selected non-financial top performance indicators.
The three selected sustainability indicators reflect both environmental and social criteria: CO₂ intensity and the percentage of generating capacity accounted for by renewable energy have been selected as the environmental indicators. The social indicator is the system average interruption duration index (SAIDI), which tracks electricity grid supply reliability.
Green promissory note
In February 2020, our subsidiary, Leipzig-based VNG AG, issued its first green promissory note loan with a total volume of €100 million. The loan, obtained in four tranches with terms of seven or ten years each, can be used exclusively for environmentally sustainable purposes.
With the first digital green promissory note in the Group’s history, VNG is in line with its VNG 2030+ strategy, which places the medium to long-term focus on green gases – primarily biogas plus renewable and decarbonised hydrogen.