Thirteenth NRW.BANK.Green Bond successfully placed - First one billion bond for sustainable projects

NRW.BANK successfully placed its second Green Bond in 2022 in the capital market. The thirteenth Green Bond issued by the promotional bank is the first that has a volume of one billion euros. Oversubscribed four times, it also achieved the largest order book to date. NRW.BANK will use the current Green Bond primarily to refinance energy-efficient construction projects in North Rhine-Westphalia.

“The demand for green investments is still enormous and continues to grow even further,” says Eckhard Forst, Chairman of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. “The NRW.BANK Green Bond is tailor-made for the needs of environmentally conscious investors. This way, we support the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in implementing its sustainability and climate strategy.

”The current Green Bond will mainly be used to fund energy-efficient construction projects. Over 500 million euros alone will be invested in the construction of new commercial and public-sector properties but also in the construction of sustainable housing as well as the renovation of existing properties. The new building projects funded by the Bank meet the KfW efficiency criteria (at least KfW 55 standard). 335 million euros will flow into green energy infrastructure, including wind power and geothermal plants. 115 million euros are earmarked for the renaturation of the River Emscher. This brings the total volume of funds committed by NRW.BANK for the ecological renewal of the river course to 3.6 billion euros. Further funds are earmarked for climate-friendly transport and modern water pipes.

The effectiveness of these investments is not least confirmed by the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, whose analysis was last published for the two NRW.BANK.Green Bonds issued in 2021. According to these calculations, the projects refinanced under the 2021 NRW.BANK.Green Bonds will save greenhouse gases amounting to around 4.2 million tons of CO₂ equivalents over the ten-year term of the bonds.

The total volume of Green Bonds issued by NRW.BANK thus increases to 7 billion euros. The issue was jointly lead managed by BofA Securities, Citi, Commerzbank and LBBW. The bond is listed at the stock exchanges in Düsseldorf and Luxembourg under ISIN DE000NWB0AR8. The minimum denomination is 1,000 euros.With sustainability principles in mind, NRW.BANK has issued its own Green Bonds since 2013 and started issuing Social Bonds in 2020. In addition, the Bank invests in a separate Sustainable Investment Portfolio to supplement its capital investment portfolio with proven sustainable investments. The Bank’s green funding curve offers funding recipients the opportunity to finance projects that are in line with the EU taxonomy for sustainable investments at particularly favourable conditions. This green curve is laid down in NRW.BANK’s Sustainability Guidelines. The same applies to the focus of the capital market business, which is based on the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), which NRW.BANK signed in December 2020. The PRI membership is a further contribution to the integrated sustainable orientation of the Bank’s capital market business.

For more information on the NRW.BANK.Green Bond, visit https://www.nrwbank.de/en/about-us/investor-relations/green-bonds/.

To learn more about sustainability at NRW.BANK, see https://www.nrwbank.de/en/about-us/sustainability/.

About NRW.BANK

NRW.BANK is the promotional bank of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Its mission is to support its owner – the state of North Rhine-Westphalia – in the completion of its structural and economic policy tasks. In its three promotional fields “Economy”, “Housing” and “Infrastructure/Municipalities”, NRW.BANK uses a wide range of promotion tools – from low-interest promotion loans to equity financing to advisory services. It cooperates with all banks and savings banks based in NRW on a competition-neutral basis. NRW.BANK takes into account the existing offers by the Federal Government, the North Rhine-Westphalian government and the European Union in the arrangement of its promotion.

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Contact
Caroline Gesatzki
Press Officer
Tel.: + 49 211 91741-1847
caroline.gesatzki@nrwbank.de