SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - CapitaLand has secured two green loans amounting to $400 million to "catalyse greening of the group's global portfolio by 2030", the property giant said on Wednesday (April 15).
A $150 million four-year green loan is provided by DBS Bank, while a $250 million three-year multi-currency green loan is provided by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - Singapore branch.
Proceeds from these green loans will be used for financing or refinancing of the development, investment and acquisition of certified green buildings.
The green buildings must achieve, or is expected to achieve minimally a Green Mark GoldPLUS certification by the Building & Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA), or a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating by the United States Green Building Council, the company said.
Among other things, CapitaLand's corporate offices across three locations in Singapore will be fully powered by renewable energy by the end of this year. This means that the group will avoid over 700 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, equivalent to carbon emissions from the electricity consumption of 400 four-room HDB flats in a year, on average.
This would also further the group's objective to achieve at least 20 per cent energy consumption from renewable energy by 2025.
In addition, CapitaLand will purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) from the clean energy generated from over 21,000 solar panels installed atop CapitaLand's six industrial properties in Singapore, held under Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (Ascendas Reit). The RECs will be used to reduce carbon emissions at CapitaLand's operations in its corporate offices within Capital Tower, Galaxis and eCapitaHub.
With the RECs, the common facilities' electricity usage at three of Ascendas Reit's buildings at one-north in Singapore will also be 100 per cent powered by renewable energy, starting with Neuros and Immunos in 2020 and extending to Nexus @ one-north and Nucleos by end 2022, CapitaLand noted.
As part of its green efforts, CapitaLand has also been awarded BCA's Green Mark Platinum "Super Low Energy" certification for LogisTech.
The four-storey building, held under Ascendas Reit, met BCA's criteria of being the best-in-class energy performing Green Mark Building that achieves at least 40 per cent energy saving based on its prevailing building code.
The development underwent a major upgrade and LogisTech's installation of solar panels at its rooftop is estimated to generate over 2,000 megawatt hour (MWh) of energy per year. The energy generated onsite will be used to power the building. In total, the SLE building is expected to save over 3,900 MWh each year, CapitaLand noted.
Andrew Lim, group chief financial officer of CapitaLand group, said: "CapitaLand's continued efforts in sustainable finance shows our strong dedication to responsible growth. With the latest $400 million in green loans, CapitaLand and our Reits have raised in excess of $1.32 billion through sustainable finance.
"It is heartening to have like-minded banking partners in DBS and HSBC, who continue to share our long-term commitment towards sustainability, regardless of the challenges stemming from the Covid-19 situation."
