Société Générale and BNP Paribas Lease Group & Claas Financial Services first to participate in new framework
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has launched a new framework which will provide leasing finance for investments targeted at improving the consumption of energy.
The Sustainable Financing Facility for Leasing has a volume of €250 million for loans to financial institutions in Poland which will fund leasing contracts with individual clients. Leases will be offered for investments or the acquisition of equipment, light commercial vehicles, trucks and trailers.
The facility will especially target small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland. A list of eligible materials and equipment will inform clients about the best available technologies when deciding about energy-saving solutions. This will increase the cost-effectiveness of the programme and strengthen its impact.
As the first two financial institutions BNP Paribas Lease Group Polska & Claas Financial Services and Société Générale Equipment Leasing Polska have already joined the programme with a €50 million and a €40 million loan, respectively.
Grzegorz Zieliński, EBRD Director for Poland, said: “Financing sustainable energy investments is one of the EBRD’s outstanding areas of expertise and we are pleased to widen our activities with this new framework. We are very encouraged that two leasing companies have already signed up to the facility. It shows there is strong appetite for this kind of financing in the market as room for improving the energy balance of local companies remains high.”
“Our experience in participating in programmes aimed at energy efficiency in Poland dates back to 2012. Joining this initiative confirms the great importance of distributing this concept to a wide range of our SME customers” says Tomasz Wlazlo, Finance and Operations Director at Société Générale Equipment Finance Polska.
The EBRD launched its Sustainable Energy Efficiency Initiative (SEI) in 2006 to address the challenges of energy efficiency and climate change. To date, the Bank invested over €15 billion in more than 750 sustainable energy efficiency projects and today SEI investments account for a third of all EBRD’s investments.
In Poland, the EBRD is one of the largest investors with more than €7.5 billion invested in the country since the Bank’s start of operations in 1991. The EBRD focuses on promoting the low carbon economy, enhancing the private sector’s role in the economy and assisting in the development of a sustainable financial sector and capital markets in Poland.
