In the CSR Hub rating aggregate, whose database includes more than 37,000 publicly traded companies from around the world, CEZ Group currently stands at 90% and has made it among the top tenth of the world’s best-rated companies. CEZ Group is also doing well in the narrower sector of energy companies, which currently includes nearly 950 companies: the average rating of energy companies currently stands at 82%.
“Three years ago, when we announced our ambitious strategy Vision 2030 – Clean Energy for Tomorrow, which is based on sustainability, CSR Hub rated us at 74%. International rating agencies watch closely the steps that we are taking to fulfil our targets. The fact that we have managed to progress so significantly in such a short period, shows that we are on a good track,” said Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEZ CEO Daniel Beneš.
“The high ESG rating also means that CEZ is more attractive for investors and banks that search for companies with a clear sustainability vision. Many banks grant credit frameworks that are linked to sustainability. We have several credit contracts with reference to emission intensity or to a rating score from a specific ESG agency,” said member of the Board of Directors and Chief Sustainability Officer Michaela Chaloupková.
CEZ Group concluded its first credit line linked to ESG rating in the summer of 2023 with UniCredit Bank, followed by additional loans with the Všeobecná úvěrová banka, and most recently with CaixaBank, this April.
In April 2022, CEZ was the first publicly listed energy company in Central and Eastern Europe to issue sustainability-linked bonds. Bonds in the volume of EUR 600 million (i.e., approximately CZK 14.5 billion) with a coupon of 2.375 percent are linked to an emission-intensity reduction commitment. The bonds mature in 2027, and the key indicator will be their value of the emission intensity of power generation in 2025. Furthermore, on 4 June this year, CEZ set the price of its next sustainability-linked issue, in the volume of EUR 750 million, which is expected to settle on 11 June 2024.
In 2021, CEZ Group introduced its business strategy Clean Energy for Tomorrow, based on ESG pillars. A key part of the environmental pillar is decarbonisation of the portfolio, reduction in the production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2040.