EIB Issues First Ever Digital Climate Awareness Bond and Swedish Krona Transaction

• EIB continues to lead innovation in capital markets with a digital native green bond issuance denominated in Swedish krona.
• The SEK 1 billion digital green bond has a maturity of 2 years and bears a 3.638% fixed rate coupon, with Crédit Agricole CIB and SEB as joint lead managers.
• The digital bond uses the so|bond model, the sustainable and open digital bond platform built on blockchain technology and launched by Crédit Agricole CIB and SEB in April 2023.
• First Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) bond registered on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange Securities Official List (LuxSE SOL) and displayed on the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX).

The European Investment Bank priced its first ever SEK 1 billion digital Climate Awareness Bond (CAB) using so|bond, the sustainable and open digital bond platform built on blockchain technology launched by Crédit Agricole CIB and SEB in April 2023. The platform uses a new type of blockchain validation logic, the Proof of Climate awaReness (PoCR) protocol, which enables an energy consumption comparable to non-blockchain systems and incentivises participating nodes to continually improve the environmental footprint of their infrastructures. More specifically, each node will be remunerated for its efforts according to a formula linked to its environmental impact evaluated with the Life Cycle Assessment ISO standard: the lower the environmental footprint it is, the larger the reward will be.

The platform adopts the so|bond model and is operated by Crédit Agricole CIB, CACEIS and SEB, with Crédit Agricole CIB acting as central account keeper, i.e. safekeeping the newly issued digital bond. CACEIS and SEB take custody of the issued digital bond on behalf of their investing clients. In addition, CACEIS is acting as the paying agent for the issuance.

On the legal front, EIB was advised in this transaction by Clifford Chance while the joint lead managers were advised by Linklaters.

EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Felix said: “Today marks another ground-breaking milestone for the European Investment Bank as we proudly announce our first-ever green and SEK-denominated bond issued in a blockchain format. This Climate Awareness bond will run on a platform designed to minimise the environmental footprint of the IT infrastructure. We take immense pride in leading the charge towards sustainable finance and technological innovation, with the support of our valuable partners and investors. By combining the power of blockchain with our unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship, we further strengthen our path towards a greener and more sustainable future.”

Pierre Gay, Global Head of Crédit Agricole CIB’s Global Markets Division, said: “Credit Agricole CIB is proud to be associated with EIB’s first ever digital green bond and to contribute to its pioneering drive to explore new technologies applied to primary markets with sustainability in mind. We strongly believe that the open so|bond model and the innovative Proof of Climate awaReness blockchain validation protocol respond to EIB’s philosophy and willingness to push boundaries and support new solutions aimed at improving inefficiencies in primary market processes and infrastructures in a sustainable manner.”

To find out more details please visit : https://esgnews.com/