Since 2005, ACCIONA has placed sustainability at the heart of the company and its business model. As a result, the ACCIONA Group has positioned itself as one of the major greenfield developers and operators of renewable energy and infrastructure assets of the world, providing solutions to some of the most pressing challenges faced by sustainable development.
The Group´s commitment is to exclusively develop sustainable infrastructure solutions and maximise the potential regenerative impact of each additional energy and infrastructure project beyond the ‘business as usual’.
ACCIONA annually fulfills its commitment, as stated in its Sustainable Impact Financing Framework to report on the issuance of green and sustainability-linked instruments, allocation of net proceeds, associated impacts, and compliance with the local impact indicators set by the Group.
ACCIONA intends to improve transparency by going one step further than the standard market reporting, by increasing investors understanding of the impact of its financing activities through transparent, verified and detailed reports.
Since 2019, ACCIONA has had a Green Financing Framework and since 2021 a Sustainability-Linked Framework.
In 2023, a new Sustainable Impact Financing Framework has been developed covering both green Use of Proceeds (UoP) and Sustainability-Linked financing instruments and introduces a new Local Impact feature that when combined with either type of instrument results in a "Dual Impact" structure.
The new framework builds on leading practices in green finance, such as the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the Green Loan Principles (GLP) administered by the Loan Market Association, and is aligned with the draft European Union Green Bond Standard (EU-GBS). DNV has reviewed and issued its opinion on the compliance of the new framework with these standards.
The Framework applies to ACCIONA (ACCIONA, S.A.) and its independently listed and financed subsidiary ACCIONA Energía (Corporación ACCIONA Energías Renovables, S.A.) and thus, replaces their existing financing frameworks.
Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN)
ACCIONA’s sustainable activities are considerably aligned with the EU taxonomy requirements and are especially focussed on mitigating and adapting to climate change, whether this is in the area of renewable energy, construction, water management, transport, housing, or any of its other technical capacities.
The proportion of eligible economic activities according to the taxonomy in 2023 was:
CAPEX: 94.6 % elegible
OpEx: 71.2 % elegible
Turnover: 68.6 % elegible
On the other hand, the percentage of taxonomy-alignment out of the eligible figure of ACCIONA’s activities in 2023 is as follows:
CAPEX: 98.2 % alignment with eligible figure
OpEx: 85.2 % alignment with eligible figure
Turnover: 84.2 % alignment with eligible figure.
Financial market participants in the European Union are currently bound to comply with the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). This Regulation aims to encourage the flow of capital towards more sustainable investment options while preventing greenwashing.
As a result of the SFDR, financial institutions are required to report a set of mandatory indicators and metrics that aim to show financial market participants how their investments can be associated with sustainability risks. This set of indicators are called Principal Adverse Impacts (PAIs).
Although this regulation does not directly affect ACCIONA and ACCIONA Energy given the nature of their activity, the Group intends to make its PAIs publicly available at entity level in order to reinforce their transparency and provide this information to its stakeholders, especially investors.
ACCIONA has a unwavering commitment to integrating sustainable finance and double-impact philosophy across its operations. As part of this strategy, the company is integrating the same structures of its corporate framework into project finance structures.