Renew Financial LLC Green Bond Framework Second-Party Opinion (2023)

Project Details

Project

Client

Renew Financial Group

Project Type

Green Bond/Loan

Industry Group

Banks

Use of Proceeds

Renewable energy; Energy efficiency; Water/waste water management; Climate change adaptation;

Location

U.S.

Evaluation Date

Jul 2023

Evaluation Summary

Sustainalytics is of the opinion that the Renew Green Bond Framework is credible and impactful and aligns with the four core components of the Green Bond Principles 2021. This assessment is based on the following:

USE OF PROCEEDS

The eligible categories for the use of proceeds are aligned with those recognized by the Green Bond Principles. Sustainalytics considers that the financing of home upgrades related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation, and disaster resiliency will lead to positive environmental impacts and advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDGs 6 and 7.

PROJECT EVALUATION AND SELECTION

Renew Financial’s financing is intended to be provided only for eligible PACE projects, as defined by the legislative mandates for the PACE programmes in California and Florida. Renew Financial intends to reference a list of eligible product types in assessing eligibility. It addresses environmental and social risks by ensuring compliance with the local and state permitting codes, health and safety standards, and the minimum product specifications and installation quality requirements mandated by the respective PACE programmes. This is in line with market practice.

MANAGEMENT OF PROCEEDS

Renew Financial intends to allocate fully at the time of each issuance. The net proceeds of Renew Financial’s green bond issuances are intended to be tracked internally per the management requirements of the PACE Programmes. This is in line with market practice.

REPORTING

Renew Financial has communicated to Sustainalytics that it will disclose, in the respective offering documents, the total amount to be allocated. While ongoing tracking of the actual impact is not feasible due to the nature of the projects funded, Renew Financial intends to report on the aggregated environmental benefits, based on an impact estimation model of the financed projects on its website, a year after each issuance. This is in line with market practice.