Green bond

Nasdaq ESG Transparency Partner — Eurogrid regularly publishes a Greenbond Report on the Nasdaq platform..

In May 2020, 50Hertz’s parent company, Eurogrid GmbH, secured liquidity for the grid expansion needed to drive the energy transition forward through its first green bond, which amounted to €750 million. It was used to finance projects including the grid connections to Ostwind 1 and 2, which lead to offshore wind farms located to the northeast of the island of Rügen. These projects contribute to the EU’s goal of mitigating climate change and are therefore also eligible for receiving financial support in accordance with the EU Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth. The aim of 50Hertz's project is to increase the number of households that can be supplied with wind energy - and thus avoid CO2 emissions. Through these projects, 50Hertz is contributing to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). Due to this green bond, Eurogrid was able to become a member of Nasdaq’s Sustainable Bond Network (NSBN). This platform provides investors with detailed information and data about investment opportunities in environmental and climate-related projects. It therefore supports due diligence activities, i.e. the selection and monitoring of investments. The NSBN lists over 200 green bonds. 50Hertz’s NSBN membership was announced on a giant billboard in New York’s Times Square.

Ostwind 1

Ostwind 1 connects the Baltic Sea wind farms Wikinger (capacity: 350 MW) and Arkona (capacity: 385 MW) in the Westlich Adlergrund cluster to the 50Hertz onshore substation of Lubmin in the Bay of Greifswald via two offshore platforms.

Ostwind 2

Ostwind 2 connects the Baltic Sea wind farms Arcadis Ost 1 and Baltic Eagle to 50Hertz’s extra-high-voltage grid. Together, the two wind farms will generate a capacity of approximately 725 MW, which will be transported to shore via our grid connection system. The Lubmin substation connects our extra-high-voltage transmission grid to Ostwind 2.

50Hertz’ sustainable business strategy is recognised and trusted, as is reflected by the good and gradually increasing ratings from sustainability ratings agencies, such as Sustainalytics and Vigeo Eiris. In all assessed fields, 50Hertz scores higher than average compared to similar companies. 50Hertz’s first rating from Vigeo Eiris in 2016 was 50 points (in the lower middle range); in 2019, our rating increased to 57 out of 100 points. This placed us in the second highest performance level (robust), meaning the highest category (advanced) is within reach. We also achieve constantly good results in our ratings from Sustainalytics, which categorises us as an outperformer or leader in most fields of action.