With Green Finance, more performing and sustainable modern trains

Green Bond for the purchase of new trains: the mobility of the future also passes through sustainable finance. The new vehicles that Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane will make available to its travelers will also be partly financed by green bonds issued by the Group, led by the managing director Luigi Ferraris; in particular the last two, placed on 16 May last for a value of 1.1 billion euros, are intended for the purchase of new electric trains to be used in Italian and international railway transport, for their maintenance and for interventions to speed up the railway infrastructure. The target? Offer travelers modern trains with high performance, all while respecting the environment.

Green finance and green bonds represent, for FS, a fundamental engine for combating climate change and achieving one of the Group’s main objectives, namely carbon neutrality by 2040, 10 years ahead of the European “zero emissions” target of 2050 , always moving within what is outlined by the European Green Deal and the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. And this goal also involves the renewal of passenger and freight transport vehicles, with the entry of new generation trains such as the Frecciarossa 1000 for high-speed trains or the Rock, Pop and Blues trains of regional transport, cars which will have a further impact on the reduction of polluting emissions and carbon dioxide as well as on the energy efficiency of FS.

A total of eight Green Bonds have been issued by the Group since 2017, of which the last, in fact, in May 2023, with an issue in two tranches of 6 and 10 years (600 and 500 million euro respectively), thanks to which FS consolidates its leadership as an Italian non-financial company for green securities issued, for a value exceeding 5 billion euros. Among the projects financed in 2022 thanks to the proceeds of green bonds, is the completion of the Turin-Milan-Naples high-speed network.

The green bonds issued by the Group to date make it possible to cover the entire railway business, they also contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and to facilitate the transition from private mobility to the train. Just in July last year, FS expanded the credit line stipulated in 2021 from 2.5 to 3 billion euros, bringing the financial institutions involved to eight: Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Cassa depositi e prestiti, Crédit Agricole CIB, CaixaBank and Banca Popolare di Sondrio, BNL – Group BNP Paribas and Banco BPM have joined.

As regards the ESG criteria, however, FS received the “Advanced” rating in the Moody’s ESG Solutions rating (which evaluates sustainability performance according to 25 criteria divided into 6 different areas), “B” in the Carbon Disclosure Project rating on climate issues and “A-” in relation to the involvement of suppliers on these issues. In fact, the Group has long since launched a process of accompanying its suppliers towards greater attention to environmental and social issues in the procurement phase, in order to evaluate, by 2026, 100% of suppliers according to ESG parameters.