Intesa Sanpaolo e Sace together to support Italian companies in green and sustainable transformation processes. To counter climate change, the banking group led by Carlo Messina and Sace have launched the first S-Loan Climate Change financing, designed for SMEs and MID - Chap who intend to reduce their environmental impact, in line with the guidelines of the PNRR.
In detail, the new loan provides for a 80% Sace guarantee to finance green investment projects up to an amount of 15 million euros and for a maximum duration of 20 years. The Sace guarantee - reads a note - is issued through a simplified and digitized process for the benefit of decisive domestic projects for the future and in line with the evaluation criteria and taxonomy defined by the European Union, in the context of the Technical Expert Group on sustainable finance, such as: climate change mitigation and prevention, reduction of polluting activities, protection of water and marine resources, protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems and circular economy. The guarantee is intended for companies with a turnover of up to 500 million euros.
Furthermore, the projects of Italian SMEs that can be financed thanks to the S-Loan Climate Change are linked to environmental sustainability and aim to achieve some important objectives, shared in advance: supply of electricity from renewable sources or bioenergy; introduction of a Green Procurement Policy on purchases, transport and energy; achievement of Carbon Neutrality; adaptation of a portion of the company's real estate assets to green building standards; introduction of new vehicles with reduced environmental impact in the company fleet; introduction of initiatives for the protection and restoration of ecosystems.
When at least two objectives are achieved, the double mechanism envisaged by the S-Loan formula is activated, which includes a bonus for the company in terms of the cost of the loan and a donation from the bank to support charitable projects. For example, through the joint donation mechanism the project “At school of inclusion: you learn by playing” and have already been collected 60mila euros to redevelop 28 parks for children.
"This agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo is part of Sace's commitment to support the implementation of the Green New Deal on the Italian territory and testifies to the digitization and simplification process of our offer for the benefit of financial partners and companies - he declared Pierfrancesco Latini, Chief Executive Officer of Sace -. As envisaged by the Simplification Law Decree of last July, in fact, Sace can issue green guarantees on domestic projects capable of facilitating the transition towards an economy with a lower environmental impact, integrating production cycles with low-emission technologies for the production of goods and sustainable services and promote initiatives aimed at developing new mobility with lower polluting emissions".
Stephen Barrese, Head of the Banca dei Territori Division of Intesa Sanpaolo, added: “Thanks to the fruitful relationship with Sace, today we are introducing a new instrument from our S-Loan range which will be used to finance new projects for the sustainable development of businesses and, at the same time, to improve the environmental impact of the companies themselves, which will drive the recovery of our economy. With a view to limiting the impact that we all have on the climate change and thanks to the joint perspective of responsible growth that unites a private company such as Intesa Sanpaolo and a large public operator such as Sace, we are confident of activating new additional tools that are increasingly suited to the new cycle and respect for the environment and in line with the green transition indicated from the PNRR".
