Anglian reaches 850 Green Bond-funded capital investments

Anglian Water has funded 850 capital investment projects through Green Bond finance since it became the first European utility to issue a sterling Green Bond two years ago.

In its 2019 Green Bond Impact Report, the company said it had raised £811m so far, with five Green Bonds in operation and a sixth ready to draw down in 2020. The investments funded are expected to save or avoid 160,736 tonnes of carbon – a 61% reduction from the company's 2010 capital carbon baseline.

Projects funded by the Green Bonds must contribute to five environmental objectives:

• Climate change mitigation

• Climate change adaptation

• Natural resource conservation

• Biodiversity conservation

• Pollution prevention and control

Anglian said: “Uniquely for a utility company, the sustainability focus at the heart of [our] business means all Anglian Water's capital expenditure qualifies for the Green Bond.” Among the schemes funded this way to date include: innovative water abstraction technology, drought and flood resilience schemes, and progressive water recycling and water resource management projects.