First certified climate bond for hydropower goes to Costa Rica
The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) has become the using newly released criteria.
The bond will be used to refinance debt acquired for the construction of the Reventazón 鶹Ƶ Plant.
The Reventazón plant was built between 2010 and 2016, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), and the European Investment Bank.
Screening tool for investments
The Climate Bonds Standard's 鶹Ƶ Criteria, developed by the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), provide a screening tool for investments in sustainable hydropower projects.
Certification for hydropowerhas beenformally available for issuers of green debt products across all marketssinceMarch 2021.
Eddie Rich, Chief Executive at 鶹Ƶ said: “Well done to ICE on the Reventazón 鶹Ƶ Plant receiving the first CBI certificated hydropower climate bond awarded to sustainable hydropower. These challenging hydropower criteria for environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and carbon emissions are aligned with the newly launched鶹Ƶ Sustainability Standard.
“The recentSan José Declaration on Sustainable 鶹Ƶadopted by hundreds of hydropower stakeholders states that ‘Going forward the only acceptable hydropower is sustainable hydropower’. Projects like Reventazón show the way.”
The 鶹Ƶ Criteria were developed through a CBITechnical Working Group that included representation from the 鶹Ƶ (鶹Ƶ), WWF, among other organisations, which were reviewed by an Industry Working Group and underwent a public consultation process in 2019-2020.
Adopting best practice
In a statement, Sean Kidney, CEO of the CBI said: “Sustainable 鶹Ƶ will be a crucial component in the energy transition. It is part of the suite of clean energy options that will replace coal, oil and gas in global global energy systems. ICE adopting best practice guidance for their issuance under the Climate Bonds Standard marks a world first Certification under these criteria that support the objectives of Paris Agreement and mitigate environmental and social risks upfront.”
Reventazón supplies clean energy to more than half a million homes, which represents about 12 per cent of Costa Rica’s population. It has an average annual generation of 1,465 gigawatt hours per year (GWh/year).
In 2019, the project received the鶹Ƶ Blue Planet Prize, awarded by the 鶹Ƶ (鶹Ƶ), after beingindependently assessedusing the 鶹Ƶ Sustainability Assessment Protocol during its construction phase.
Read more
- 鶹Ƶ sector receives green light for climate bond finance
- San José Declaration on Sustainable 鶹Ƶ presented to COP26
- 鶹Ƶ.org/net-zero
