FAB provides ESG trade finance to wind turbine maker Senvion India

Multimillion dollar green trade finance facility issued as part of the lender's net zero goals

FAB has financed more than $10 billion in sustainable projects. Chris Whiteoak / The National

First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE's largest lender by assets, provided a multimillion-dollar green trade credit line to wind turbine maker Senvion India, as part of the bank's efforts to advance its net zero ambitions.

The environmental, social and governance (ESG)-compliant trade product will help Senvion procure raw materials to manufacture wind turbine generators, FAB said on Friday.

“Our sustainable financing solutions through trade help underpin the bank’s commitment to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative, and further extend FAB’s leading profile as the first bank in the Middle East to join the Net Zero Banking Alliance,” said Martin Tricaud, group head of investment banking at FAB.

The alliance includes a group of global financial institutions that have committed to aligning their lending and investment portfolios with net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Green financing linked to sustainability projects in the Mena region stood at $6.4 billion in the first half of 2021, topping the amount raised through the whole of last year, according to Bloomberg’s 2021 Capital Markets League Table for the first half.

FAB, which became the first Mena bank to issue a green bond last year, has financed more than $10bn in sustainable projects.

The Abu Dhabi bank aims to adopt a two-pronged approach to hit its net zero goals, with the first examining how it can reduce carbon emissions and water use, Shargiil Bashir, chief sustainability officer at FAB, said during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow last year.

The bank has already replaced plastic water and coffee cups with reusable options and installed lights that turn off automatically when a room is empty. It is also considering the use of renewable energy to power its buildings, such as solar panels.

FAB slashed its carbon emissions by 47 per cent from 2017 to 2020, Mr Bashir said.

The lender's other approach towards attaining its net zero goals is to provide financing for sustainable projects.

Senvion India, which manufactures, assembles, installs and markets advanced wind turbine generators, was acquired in 2021 by Global Renewable Energy Development — an investment vehicle of the Saudi-based Alfanar Group that is involved in renewable energy development across India, the Middle East and Europe.

The deal demonstrates FAB’s ability to provide a multi-geography ESG solution within the Saudi Arabia and India trade corridor, the lender said.