Italy: EIB and E-Distribuzione sign €250 million sustainability-linked agreement to strengthen climate resilience, digitalisation and quality of Italian power grids

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• EIB and E-Distribuzione, Enel Group’s company, have signed the first €250 million tranche part of a €500 million package approved.
• The sustainability-linked loan features an interest rate adjustment conditional on Enel meeting specific greenhouse gas emission reduction and EU taxonomy targets.
• The operation is part of the EIB REPowerEU initiative.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and E-Distribuzione, Enel Group’s company, have signed the first €250 million tranche of a €500 million sustainability-linked loan. In concrete terms, the financing will help to back innovation and digitalisation of the power grid in Italy, increasing its resilience to avoid and react to future extreme climate events while also improving the quality of electricity distribution services.

“This agreement confirms the EIB’s role as the main public sector financer of Enel’s decarbonisation goals,” said EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti. “This loan will not only improve the stability of the power grid, but will also contribute to Italy’s energy transition, cutting CO₂ emissions and promoting the use of renewable energy.”

“This new transaction further strengthens the partnership between Enel and the EIB, which once again confirm their shared commitment to creating a more sustainable and resilient Europe through the use of sustainable finance operations,” said Stefano De Angelis, Enel CFO. “The agreement also demonstrates the central role that networks play for Enel in fostering the acceleration of the energy transition, as also underlined by the significant investments in this business sector envisaged in our recently announced 2025-2027 Strategic Plan.”  

The sustainability-linked finance contract is dependent on Enel Group’s ability to meet a (Scope 1) direct greenhouse gas emission target (measured in grams of CO₂eq per kWh) equal to or below 125 gCO₂eq/kWh by 2026 or equal to or below 72 gCO₂eq/kWh by 2030. Another key performance indicator will also be linked to the EU taxonomy and will be conditional on the group aligning at least 80% of its capital expenditure with this taxonomy between 2024 and 2026. The agreement includes a step-up/step-down mechanism involving a potential margin adjustment on the basis of the aforementioned targets.

The agreement aligns with Enel’s Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework, updated in January 2024, which fully integrates sustainability into the group’s overall financing program. Furthermore, the financing announced today is part of the RePowerEU initiative of the EIB, which will invest an additional 45 billion euros between 2022 and 2027 with the aim of unlocking 150 billion euros in investments to promote the green transition and progressively reduce Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It finances investments that can contribute to EU policy objectives. EIB projects bolster competitiveness, drive innovation, promote sustainable development, enhance social and territorial cohesion, and support a just and swift transition to climate neutrality. In the past five years, the EIB Group has provided more than €58 billion in financing for projects in Italy.

Enel is an energy multinational and leading integrated operator in global energy and renewable energy markets. It is Europe’s largest utility company by standard EBITDA.^[1]

Enel operates in 28 countries across the globe and has total energy-producing capacity of over 89 GW. It provides electricity to more than 69 million end-users via a power grid stretching over 1.9 million km.

^[1] Enel’s leading position in the various categories is defined is comparison with its competitors’ data for the 2023 financial year. Fully publicly owned operators are not included.