Sustainable financing

Within the framework, we can utilise green and sustainability-linked debt instruments in our financing, such as loans and bonds. Our target is to make our energy production carbon neutral by 2030 and to phase out combustion-based energy production by 2040.

The green financing part of the framework is built around two project categories – energy and clean transportation. The energy project category includes ten subcategories: solar power, wind power, bioenergy, heating and cooling, hydropower, hydrogen production, electricity transmission and distribution, distribution of district heating and cooling, energy storage and electric heat pumps. The clean transportation project category includes one subcategory: charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Most of the eligibility criteria for the subcategories will follow the technical screening criteria defined in the EU taxonomy for substantial contribution to climate change mitigation.

The sustainability-linked financing part of the framework is built around two key performance indicators (KPIs), which are based on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Helen’s own production (Scope 1 and Scope 2) and in the value chain (Scope 3). For Scope 3 emissions, the target encompasses greenhouse gas emissions from our associated companies’ energy production as well as emissions related to the production of purchased and resold electricity and heat.

Danske Bank has acted as the adviser in the preparation of the framework, and Moody’s Investors Service has provided Second Party Opinion for the framework. Both the green framework and the sustainability-linked framework received the highest score (excellent) on Moody’s Investors Service’s five-level rating scale.