The EKO Housing Loan was used to support environmentally friendly solutions. As part of it, financing was available for the installation of solar collectors, photovoltaic panels and heat pumps during the construction or renovation of the property.
Environment
Support for energy transition and low-carbon economy
Under Pillar 1. in its ESG Strategy, the Bank committed to actively support the transformation of the Polish energy sector and the coal regions most negatively affected by the transformation as part of a just transition. In line with the ESG Strategy, the Bank declares no new targeted financing for hard coal and lignite mining projects40 and energy projects based on hard coal and lignite.
Pekao Bank and some Pekao Group companies have a balanced product offering addressed to different customer segments.
Green products
In 2021, the Express Loan was available for customers of Bank Pekao for environmental purposes, e.g. for renewable energy sources, the purchase of central heating boilers, windows, doors or home insulation materials. Its funds could also be used to finance the purchase of electric or hybrid passenger cars as well as electric motorcycles and scooters, electric bikes, or to refinance the incurred costs of purchases made from the beginning of 2021.
The Pekao TFI’s offer was joined in 2021 by the Pekao Ecological sub-fund, focused on supporting sustainable investments. Its portfolio includes companies from environmentally friendly and pro-ecological sectors (renewable energy, electromobility, energy efficiency, recycling and waste management). When analysing their selection, in addition to financial factors, ESG issues were equally important, i.e. environmental, social and corporate governance aspects.
In 2021, Bank Pekao was involved in numerous projects aimed at improving the energy efficiency of business clients, implementing ecological projects and financing renewable energy sources (including wind farms, photovoltaic installations and low-emission urban transport). In September 2021, the Bank and the Polish Development Fund (hereinafter: PFR) announced a joint project to finance investments in renewable energy sources called „PFR Green Hub”. The total amount of the programme is PLN 1 billion. The programme is designed to enable the implementation of the first 500 MW of new photovoltaic installations built on the basis of market energy prices.
In Q3. 2021, Bank Pekao took part in the issue of bonds for the amount of PLN 491 million, for the implementation of an investment programme improving the standard of public transport in Wrocław. In a consortium with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (hereinafter: BGK) Pekao participated in PLN 496 million worth of financing for the modernization and construction of track infrastructure in the Silesian Agglomeration and for the purchase of tramway rolling stock and specialized rail vehicles. In the commercial real estate sector, the Bank financed projects with the highest quality environmental certificates. The Bank’s good practice was to finance projects in the commercial real estate segment aimed at building or revitalizing various types of buildings in order to make them environmentally friendly.
In terms of supporting the issue of ESG bonds of clients in 2021, Bank Pekao was:
- The sole organizer and dealer of the 10-year rating-linked bond issue ESG with a fixed interest rate (interest rate related to the company’s ESG rating level) for PKN ORLEN with a total nominal value 1 billion zloty;
- One of the global coordinators and co-book-holders of the issue of 7-year green Eurobonds (green bonds) PKN ORLEN worth EUR 500 million, carried out on the international market. The net proceeds from the bond issue will be used to finance or refinance the group’s green projects;
- Co-organizer of the first Polish issue of green municipal bonds for the city of Łódź. The bond amount was 418 million, of which 50 million were green bonds. The proceeds from the bonds will be used to finance projects related to low-emission urban transport and sewage treatment;
- The coordinator and dealer of PLN 1 billion issue of 10-year ESG-linked bonds (fixed interest rate linked to the company’s ESG rating) for PKN ORLEN;
- One of the organizers and dealers for the issue of Famur S.A. green bonds worth PLN 400 million. The purpose of the issue was direct and indirect financing or refinancing of the development, purchase, construction and operation of green projects of the Famur group.
1 PLN billion
Value of issuance of 10-year ESG rated-linked bonds for PKN ORLEN
400 PLN million
The value of Famur S.A.'s green bond issue.
In December 2021, Bank Pekao signed a green bond issue program agreement with Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Oczyszczania Łódź Sp. z o. o The value of the programme is PLN 400 million, which will finance the construction of the Łódź Recycling Centre, i.e. a set of installations for the treatment of municipal waste.
* High-carbon financing: covers the industries of hard coal and lignite mining, electricity generation using hard coal and lignite, heat generation using hard coal and lignite, supplementary activities related to energy using hard coal and lignite within the following industries: trade, distribution, transmission electricity, wholesale of coal, industrial processing, production of coal furnaces. The financing does not include: industries related to the use (mining, processing) of coking coal as a raw material included in the list of critical raw materials of the EU, coal-related activities including the production of machinery for coal mining and installations for coal mining and the financing of projects supporting the energy transition. Excluding transformational projects.