NRG Energy Says It Has Become First North American Company To Issue Sustainability-Linked Bond

NRG Energy Inc. announced today that it, "has completed the issuance of $900 million in senior secured first lien notes in a landmark issuance, with NRG pioneering the first Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB) in North America, and the first issued by any energy company outside of Europe."

"In concert with the Direct Energy acquisition, the SLB will support the Company’s efforts to pursue growth, achieve its climate transition strategy, and bring increasing value to its stakeholders," NRG said

"As a complement to the sustainability-linked pricing metric added to the Company’s corporate credit agreement in 2019, the Company’s issuance of the SLB aligns NRG’s business and financing with company commitments and values by creating a direct link between climate and funding strategies. The SLB links attractive financing to the realization of the Company’s previously announced goals to achieve a 50% reduction of absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2025, and reach net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, from the current 2014 baseline," NRG said

"The Company’s SLB will be measured in accordance with one key performance indicator (KPI) and an associated Sustainability Performance Target (SPT), which support United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy and 13 – Climate Action. The SPT set by NRG is absolute GHG emissions of 31.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by the end of 2025," NRG said

"Measurement of the KPI will cover emissions from the production of wholesale electric power at facilities owned or controlled by the Company (Scope 1), emissions generated from the electricity purchased and consumed by the Company (Scope 2), and emissions encompassed by employee business travel (Scope 3)," NRG said

"Further, NRG has obtained a separate second-party opinion (SPO) from Vigeo Eiris on the robustness and relevance of the KPI and SPT. Vigeo Eiris is a global leader in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) assessments, data, research, benchmarks and analytics, and is a Climate Bonds Initiative Verified Provider of Second Party Opinions," NRG said