The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting the ambitious sustainability and decarbonisation targets of Public Power Corporation S.A. (PPC), Greece’s largest power producer and electricity supplier, by investing €50 million in the company’s sustainability-linked bond issue.

With a total issuance volume of €650 million, the issue will help improve PPC’s access to finance by diversifying its financing sources to a new environmental, social and governance (ESG)-focused investor base.

The bond will include a sustainability performance target, with PPC committing to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 per cent by the end of 2022. The target translates into annual CO2 emission cuts of 9.2 million tonnes in 2022 compared to 2019 and is the most ambitious corporate decarbonisation target the EBRD has ever supported in the regions where it invests.

This target is expected to be met primarily by decommissioning all lignite plants by 2023 and replacing them with renewable energy capacity in a significantly accelerated programme that will add 1.3GW of mainly solar and wind power to PPC’s portfolio