German energy company EnBW has launched its first green bond on the capital market, with an issue size of EUR 500 million.
The bond issue, with a 15-year term to maturity, was oversubscribed within hours, EnBW said.
The proceeds from the bond will be allocated to projects in the fields of wind power, photovoltaics and electric mobility.
“The transformation of our company towards renewable energies and smart infrastructure solutions is a core element of our strategy,” said EnBW’s CFO Thomas Kusterer .
“The fact that the bond was several times oversubscribed shows that issuing it as a green bond supports our strategy. That has also been rewarded by the capital market.”
Rating agency ISS-oekom has confirmed that the EnBW bond complies with the Green Bond Principles. The applicable criteria were drawn up by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA).
In addition, EnBW’s first green bond is also certified to the standards of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI). These feature detailed sector-specific criteria for qualification as green bonds. The criteria are developed by teams of experts coordinated by an advisory board comprising institutional investors and environmental NGOs.