Green Finance – reaching the energy transition together with Investors

In 2014, VERBUND was the first company in the DACH region to issue a Green Bond. The funds raised in the amount of €500m were used to finance wind power plants in Austria and Germany as well as the Reißeck II pumped storage project and efficiency improvement measures at the Ybbs run-of-river power plant. In 2018, VERBUND reached another milestone with the placement of the world's first Digital Green Schuldschein with a volume of €100m via a digital platform to finance the revitalisation of a 220 kV line in Upper Austria with a length of 110 km. In the same year, VERBUND placed the first ESG-linked Syndicated Loan with a volume of €500m, the annual margin adjustment of which is based exclusively on the company's sustainability rating as determined by an external ESG agency. Finally, VERBUND placed the world’s first Green and Sustainability-linked Bond in 2021, which combines all four green components ("use of proceeds" bond, in line with EU Taxonomy, sustainability-linked bond and strong preference for sustainable investors according to a transparent criterion during bookbuilding) in one transaction, with a volume of €500m to finance a hydropower plant in Germany and grid projects in Austria.