SBB’s sustainable financing framework contributes to significant social impact through social infrastructure and reductions of carbon dioxide emissions through energy efficient buildings. SBB’s sustainable financing framework is in line with the Green Bond Principles, Social Bond Principles, Sustainability Bond Guidelines and Green Loan Principles. SBB has commissioned and received an independent valuation from ISS ESG, Institutional Shareholder Services, of the sustainable financing framework and associated steering documents and routines for assessing the environmental and social impact of the projects. In light of their assessment of project type, steering documents goals and reporting standards, SBB’s sustainable financing framework is considered to provide a significant contribution to SDGs 3 ‘Good health and well-being’, 4 ‘Quality education’, 10 ‘Reduced inequalities’ and 11 ‘ Sustainable cities and communities’. The new Sustainable Financing Framework published in November 2020, replaces previous versions of the Green Bond Framework.
SBB has also received a Green Evaluation with score E2 from Standard & Poor’s (S&P) in connection with SBB’s debut sustainable bond in the capital market in February 2019. E2 is the second highest score and SBBs sustainable framework receives a strong score for governance and an excellent score for transparency, whilst at the same time the total score is negatively affected by the fact that Sweden, compared to other countries, has a higher share of renewable energy in its energy mix. The rating scale goes from E1 to E4 and is based on three criteria; transparency, governance and mitigation.