Blue financing

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What is blue bond?

Where is capital from Ørsted’s blue bonds allocated?

Biodiversity

Sustainable shipping

How do we track and communicate the impact of our blue bonds?

Investors play a crucial role in unleashing capital needed to build a sustainable ocean economy. Through Ørsted’s blue bonds, investors have the opportunity to finance our efforts to promote ocean biodiversity and sustainable shipping. Together, we can advance offshore renewable energy in balance with nature, and scale and mature Power-to-X for marine fuels.

At Ørsted, we are the first energy company to pursue blue financing through blue bonds. On 8 June 2023, we issued a five-year EUR 100 million private placement blue bond, building on our strong record on green finance and sustainable ocean stewardship. This investment will help us gain the learnings we need to innovate and scale ocean-based renewable energy solutions.

“Blue bonds, such as Ørsted’s, by the private sector are an important tool to deliver crucial financing for projects aimed at addressing a broad scope of environmental and social issues facing our world today.”

Sanda Ojiambo

Assistant Secretary-General and CEO

UN Global Compact

We are currently witnessing a substantial funding gap for sustainable ocean action. Only 1% of the ocean economy’s total value was invested in sustainable projects over the last ten years. As pioneers in the industry, we believe the moment is right to introduce blue bonds. Our ambition is that our blue bonds will seed momentum to attract more investment and unlock the potential of a sustainable blue economy.

What is a blue bond?

Blue bonds are designed to raise capital for projects that specifically support a sustainable blue economy, in the case of Ørsted this means, promoting the sustainable use of ocean resources in our offshore wind activities and sustainable shipping fuels business to drive economic growth, while preserving biodiversity and the health of the ocean ecosystem.

Like green bonds that finance Ørsted’s wind and solar farms, blue bonds function as debt instruments, where issuers borrow money from investors and repay it with interest over time. The key distinction lies in the allocation of funds raised through blue bonds.

Where is capital from Ørsted’s blue bonds allocated?

Our work on ocean sustainability starts with science-based action on decarbonisation – fundamental to ocean health. Our role in constructing and operating offshore wind farms is critical in limiting global warming, which is a key driver of biodiversity loss in oceans. Our commitment to do this with net-positive biodiversity impact is central to our focus on sustainable ocean stewardship.

Capital raised from our blue bonds will be used to scale-up our existing efforts on marine biodiversity, and to support the transition to sustainable shipping. Both areas are critical in creating a positive impact on ocean health and unlocking the huge potential of a sustainable blue economy.

Projects financed by Ørsted blue bonds are consistent with the categories outlined in the International Finance Corporation IFC Blue Finance Guidelines.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity allocations support our work in the offshore environment to mitigate, conserve, and restore biodiversity. This investment is part of our ambition to achieve a net-positive impact on biodiversity for all new renewable energy projects we commission from 2030 onwards. To achieve this ambition, we are actively piloting innovative new techniques like artificial habitat restoration , with the objective of learning from successes and failures so that we can scale up successful solutions – one of the motivations behind launching blue bonds.

Sustainable shipping

Sustainable shipping allocations support our ambition both to take a leading position in developing green ocean fuels and to decarbonise ocean vessels. An example of the type of project in this scope would be our FlagshipONE project in Sweden , which will use renewable electricity and biogenic carbon dioxide to synthesise e-methanol that can be used as a shipping fuel.

How do we track and communicate the impact of our blue bonds?

We work to deliver the maximum impact from the capital we raise through blue bonds. We’re committed to measuring this impact and evaluating the funding needed to achieve it. What’s more, we understand that tackling the climate and biodiversity crises are tasks we share across industries and across borders, so we will continue to share what we learn with the wider market.

Blue finance is vital for ocean-based climate action, mobilising funds for projects that protect marine ecosystems, reduce emissions, and promote a sustainable blue economy. For investors, they represent an attractive investment opportunity. For Ørsted, they allow us to take concrete action to achieve our 2030 net-positive biodiversity goal, and to develop sustainable solutions for the shipping industry.