NIB Environmental Bond issuances amount to EUR 5 billion

Last week, the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) issued a EUR 500 million NIB Environmental Bond (NEB). The transaction, which is a re-opening of a NEB due April 2027, was a ground-breaking deal for the Bank, because it enabled the NIB’s total issuance under the NIB Environmental Bond Framework to reach EUR 5 billion. This is the first NEB the Bank has launched in 2021, a year that celebrates our 10th anniversary as a green bond issuer.

The EUR 500 million environmental bond again welcomes more sustainable and impactful projects to receive funding from NEB proceeds. The bond proceeds are used to finance the prudently selected loans in our lending portfolio. They are assessed as benefiting the environment and contributing to resilience and climate change mitigation in NIB’s member countries. NIB provides a detailed quantified Impact report (PDF) on the projects financed with NEB proceeds.

With the latest environmental bond, a total of 117 sustainable projects (EUR 5.4 billion) have been funded with NEB proceeds in the Nordic-Baltic region. As defined in the NIB Environmental Bond Framework, the projects can belong to one or more of the seven project categories such as renewable energy generation, green buildings, or water management and protection. Of the 117 projects, 105 have been financed with environmental bonds, and 12 projects with blue bonds. This “hint of blue” was introduced in 2019, when the NIB issued its first Nordic-Baltic Blue bond. Blue bonds are specifically aimed at investors that are conscious of the challenges facing water resources, especially those affecting the Baltic Sea.

Impact of NEB-financed projects

In discussing measuring the impact of NEBs, we can observe the sector-based figures of
NEB-financed projects in 2011–2020. The total for added renewable energy from
NEB-financing is 2.2 TWh per annum, corresponding to the total energy use per capita for approximately 200,000 persons in NIB member countries. The renewable energy includes bioenergy, hydropower and wind power projects.

NEB proceeds have financed a total of 329,000 square metres of green buildings to be certified BREEAM Excellent/LEED Platinum. Together, these green buildings generate 800 MWh of on-site renewable energy annually via solar panels.

In the field of water management and protection, the projects usually address municipalities’ waste management systems. The NEB-financed added wastewater treatment capacity in the Nordic-Baltic region during 2011–2020 is enough for a population of 1.06 million, corresponding to the combined population of Helsinki and Tallinn. In the clean transport solution sector, which can include investments in hybrid ferries, electric trolleybuses or railways, the avoided GHG emissions amount to an annual 18,000 tonnes.

The greenhouse gas emissions avoided as a result of NEB-financing during 2011–2020 is 1,163,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents.

You can read more about the NEB transactions, the impact and the actual projects on our website.

The NIB Environmental Bond framework (NEB) was established in 2011, with the aim of attracting investors willing to support sustainable investments in the Nordic-Baltic region. The NEB framework is aligned with the Green Bond Principles and has a dark green Second Opinion from CICERO (PDF). Since 2011, the Bank has issued NIB Environmental Bonds every year, and in the upcoming autumn, we will celebrate our 10th anniversary as a green bond issuer.