Aqualia sees the positive impact of its green finance recognised

Aqualia has just received the "Impact project/investment of the year 2023" award from the Environmental Finance publication. The award recognises "the large-scale and diverse geographic impact" of the €1.1 billion green syndicated loan that the company received in 2022 from ten banks led by CaixaBank.

A panel of industry experts, together with the editorial team of Environmental Finance, decided to award the prize to the operation carried out in June 2022, which was the largest green loan granted in Spain and one of the largest in Europe last year. The Norwegian foundation DNV, an expert in underwriting and risk management, provided a second opinion on the loan, aligned with the Loan Market Association's Green Lending Principles. Environmental Finance's annual Impact Awards seek to recognise the work of investors and highlight best practice across asset classes and geographies.

Aqualia is using the loan to, among other things, improve the energy efficiency of wastewater plants, optimise energy consumption and water losses in its water supply systems, develop desalination plants with reduced carbon footprint, generate hydroelectric power with low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, purchase zero GHG emission vehicles and in the construction of anaerobic digestion facilities for sewage sludge and biowaste for electricity generation with minimisation of methane leakage.

According to Isidoro Marbán, Aqualia's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), "One of our 2023 milestones is that almost 50% of our EBITDA comes from international activities. However, we do not want to measure our performance exclusively in economic terms, but we also strive to constantly improve the seven lines that make up our sustainability strategy".

By the end of 2022, Aqualia had made the following environmental progress within its Green Financing Framework and Strategic Sustainability Plan. It increased its use of renewable energy to 34.15%, with a target of 50% by 2030, reduced its energy use by more than 3% of the target, reduced non-revenue water by 1%, approaching its 2023 target, and monitored 13% adoption of low-emission vehicles in its Spanish fleet.

Aqualia, as the first company in the sector to be certified by AENOR in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), calls for water resource management that considers water as a fundamental element for development and a driver of change to promote a fairer society, one of the challenges of the 2030 Agenda. The company bases its purpose on this concept: to ensure the well-being of the people in the communities where it operates, with the sustainable provision of end-to-end water cycle services and guaranteeing with pride and commitment the universal and global right to this natural resource.