The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting residential energy efficiency in the Czech Republic by providing a 110 million euro loan to Heimstaden Bostad, the owner of the largest portfolio of private residential rental units in the Czech Republic.
The EBRD is investing alongside a consortium of commercial banks, to finance large-scale and systemic green renovation of Heimstaden Bostad’s portfolio residential buildings, which house circa 42,500 residential units in the country, informed the bank.
The goal of the EBRD’s green and sustainability-linked loan is to enable Heimstaden to implement building improvements such as thermal insulation and transition to low-carbon energy supply such as renewable energy and heat pumps.
The green investments is supposed to support the company in achieving its climate targets of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of its overall portfolio by 42 per cent by 2030, from 2020 as the base year. With the majority of the emissions reduction expected to come from the Czech portfolio, the EBRD’s investment will provide the necessary financing to help meet this objective.
“Buildings are responsible for more than a third of global carbon emissions, so supporting their energy efficiency and green transformation is crucial to reach global decarbonisation goals. This project demonstrates what can be done when private sector firms collaborate to achieve change. It serves as an excellent example to other players in the market, which we hope will advance further green investments in the real estate sector,” said Charlotte Ruhe, EBRD Managing Director for Central and South Eastern Europe.
“We are pleased to announce our cooperation with EBRD, Unicredit, and the Czech banking consortium. These funds strengthen our balance sheet and will enhance the sustainability of our Czech portfolio. Heimstaden Bostad was the first major European residential real estate company to attain Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validation for our Climate Roadmap, with our Czech portfolio offering the highest potential for reducing CO2 emissions,” commented Heimstaden Bostad’s CEO Helge Krogsbøl.
Heimstaden was one of the first pan-European residential real estate companies and the first real estate company in the Czech Republic to commit to the globally recognised Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a third-party recognition that validates climate targets to ensure that they meet the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
Heimstaden will also join the World Green Building Council’s initiative on the development of a national whole-life decarbonisation roadmap for the Czech Republic. The roadmap will identify specific actions, measures and policy interventions to address decarbonisation opportunities across the building value chain to reduce buildings’ whole lifecycle carbon footprint.
