(Alliance News) - Enel Spa announced Wednesday that E-Distribuzione, a group company, and the European Investment Bank have signed the first EUR250 million tranche of a "Sustainability-Linked" financing, part of an agreement totaling EUR500 million.

Specifically, the statement says, "the financing will help support the innovation and digitization of the electricity grid in Italy, increasing its resilience to prevent and respond to future extreme weather events, as well as improve the quality of power distribution service."

"With this agreement, the EIB confirms itself as Enel's public lender of choice for its decarbonization goals," said Gelsomina Vigliotti, EIB vice president. "The financing will not only improve the stability of the electricity grid, but also contribute to Italy's energy transition by reducing CO2 emissions and promoting the use of renewable energy."

The Sustainability-Linked financing in question is linked to the Enel Group's ability to achieve a direct greenhouse gas emissions target (Scope 1), measured in grams of CO2eq per kWh, of 125 gCO2eq/kWh or less by 2026 and of 72 gCO2eq/kWh or less by 2030. There is also an additional KPI related to the European Taxonomy, conditioned on the group achieving at least 80 percent of total Capex aligned with the EU Taxonomy in the period 2024-2026. Based on the achievement of these targets, the agreement includes a step-up/step-down mechanism that will result in a possible margin adjustment.

Enel closed Wednesday in the green by 0.4 percent to EUR6.74 per share.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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