MOODY’S-ESG-SOLUTIONS

Moody’s ESG Solutions announced today that V.E has provided a Second Party Opinion (SPO) on the European Commission’s NextGenerationEU (NGEU) Green Bond Framework. The framework aims to fund green investments for the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of the NGEU pandemic recovery plan. V.E’s SPO assesses three main components: the level of contribution to sustainability, the framework’s alignment with international standards, and its coherence with the issuer’s strategic sustainability priorities.

“Green bonds issued via the European Commission’s framework are expected to provide a ‘Robust’ contribution to sustainability, the second-highest level on our four-point scale,” said Patrick Mispagel, Managing Director – Sustainable Finance at Moody’s ESG Solutions. “Investing in a green recovery from the pandemic demonstrates the EU’s commitment and role in enabling the green transition, and further developing the European sustainable finance market.”

According to V.E, the framework is ‘Aligned’ with the four core components of the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles 2021, and is expected to contribute to nine of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

In V.E’s opinion, the framework is ‘Coherent’ with the EU’s strategic sustainability priorities, which include reorienting capital flows to sustainable investments. It is also expected to contribute to the EU’s environmental commitments, objectives and targets, such as the long-term ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The reporting commitments – which include annual reporting on use of proceeds until full allocation, annual environmental impact reporting (starting two to three years after the first issuance), publicly disclosed methodologies, and assumptions and external verification on the allocation of funds – are aligned with best market practices.

V.E’s SPOs on sustainability credentials help market participants secure financing through sustainable bonds and loans, strengthen issuers’ and projects’ credibility, and give investors confidence. To date, V.E has provided more than 370 SPOs – including award-winning and pioneering missions – on sustainable financing operations in over 30 countries. V.E has provided SPOs for supranational issuers such as the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and IDB Invest, as well as EU sovereign issuers such as France, Italy and Spain.

To learn more, please visit moodys.com/sustainable-finance .

V.E’s SPO on the European Commission’s NextGenerationEU Green Bond Framework is available here .

ABOUT MOODY’S ESG SOLUTIONS

Moody’s ESG Solutions Group is a business unit of Moody’s Corporation serving the growing global demand for ESG and climate insights. The group leverages Moody’s data and expertise across ESG, climate risk, and sustainable finance, and aligns with Moody's Investors Service and Moody's Analytics to deliver a comprehensive, integrated suite of ESG and climate risk solutions including ESG scores, analytics, Sustainability Ratings and Sustainable Finance Reviewer/certifier services.

For more information visit Moody’s ESG hub at www.moodys.com/esg .

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