NAB has announced it has partnered with Reliance Rail to help them align their financing with their sustainability ambitions, through a Green Sustainability Linked Loan, one of the first of its kind in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
The NAB Sustainability linked loan supports Reliance Rail's commitment to increase their sustainability performance by reducing waste, saving energy and better managing resources.
A critical tool in the transition to a low carbon economy, a sustainability loan incentivises Reliance Rail to achieve ambitious environmental and climate change related targets. Additionally, Reliance Rail has committed to using proceeds from margin discounts to further fund sustainability improvement projects.
NAB Group Executive, Corporate and Institutional Bank, David Gall said we all have a part to play in climate action and NAB and Reliance Rail certainly recognise our roles.
"In this landmark transaction, NAB is proud to partner with Reliance Rail, who are taking action and making the improvements needed to achieve long-term sustainability outcomes," Mr Gall said.
"NAB has been at the forefront of the development of sustainable and social bonds, ESG-linked derivatives, sustainability-linked loans and asset-backed securities - and we're proud to be working closely with our clients as they make the transition to net-zero emissions by 2050.
"The opportunity is significant for our communities and the bank when we work with and support our customers to decarbonise."
NAB acted as Joint Sustainability Co-Ordinator and lender in the refinancing and assisted in the development of a Green and Sustainability Linked Finance Framework and certification of the loan under the Climate Bonds Standard transport criteria.
As a priority, NAB is:
- working with 100 of our largest greenhouse-gas emitting customers to develop or improve their low carbon transition plans by 2023;
- the leading Australian bank for global renewables transactions. Renewables represent more than 71 per cent of NAB's total lending to energy generation. Since 2003, NAB has completed more than 150 renewable financing transactions and lent over $11.5 billion;
- the only Australian major bank to have set a cap on its oil and gas exposure and put in place restrictions on lending to greenfield oil and gas extraction;
- one of the first banks in the world with a goal to reduce oil and gas exposure aligned to the International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emission 2050 scenario; and
- targeting to halve its thermal mining exposure by 2026 and to be effectively zero by 2030, apart from residual performance guarantees to rehabilitate existing thermal coal mining assets.
About Reliance Rail
- Reliance Rail's fleet of 78 eight car Waratah trains is Sydney Trains' largest fleet, making up roughly a third of the suburban passenger fleet and providing almost half of total passenger journeys.
- In partnership with the New South Wales government, Reliance Rail was established in 2006 to finance, design, manufacture and maintain Sydney's Waratah train fleet until 2044, under the Rolling Stock Public Private Partnership (Rolling Stock PPP) project. The first Waratah train began passenger service in July 2011 and the 78th and final train entered service in May 2014.
