Zorlu Enerji’s Green Loan won the “Best Green Loan” award

The $10 million green loan that Zorlu Enerji received from Garanti BBVA won the “Best Green Loan” award at the EMEA Finance Awards, one of the most important awards in the banking sector.

“It makes us proud for a loan agreement that could be an example for sectors to be awarded internationally,” said Zorlu Enerji CEO Sinan Ak.

“It makes us proud for a loan agreement that could be an example for sectors to be awarded internationally,” said Zorlu Enerji CEO Sinan Ak.

The $10 billion green loan that Zorlu Enerji obtained from Garanti BBVA for business capital needs won the “Best Green Loan” award at the EMEA Finance Awards, one of the most important awards in the banking sector.

The loan is the first green loan in Turkey and was created with a payment model that exhibited positive change with the improvement of Zorlu Enerji’s sustainability performance. Based on this model and in the scope of loan period, Zorlu Enerji’s performance in environmental, social, and corporate management fields will be scored in regular intervals by Vigeo-Eiris, an international sustainability evaluation agency, and Zorlu Enerji’s loan interest will be reevaluated each year based on the score that emerges.

Zorlu Enerji CEO Sinan Ak attended the award ceremony, which was held in London, and he recalled that they followed environmental and sustainability policies that will be exemplary for the energy sector and that they signed the first Green Loan agreement in Turkey together with Garanti BBVA. “It makes us proud for a loan agreement that could be an example for sectors to be awarded internationally,” Ak said. “Both Zorlu Enerji and Garanti BBVA deserve this award exceedingly.”

“Zorlu Enerji has stood out for years with the innovative steps it has taken on the topic of sustainability and with the sensitivity it has shown in this field in its projects,” said Garanti BBVA Deputy General Manager Ebru Dildar Edin. “It has an important accumulation and expertise in this field. Winning the award has become a source of pride for use with the green loan they procured from our bank and for which our interest rate varies based on sustainability performance. This agreement we completed with Zorlu Enerji was not just a first for Turkey but a fifth in its own category around the world. Garanti BBVA will continue to strive as necessary to support the steps our customers take in the field of sustainability with innovative solutions and to make good examples more popular as at Zorlu Enerji.”

About the Green Loan

Green loans have begun to become popular since 2017 as a type of alternative financing to support sustainable projects and companies after the sustainable and green bond market, which has been rapidly growing since 2012. While agreements in the volume of only €6.7 billion have were signed in 2017, a further €46.9 billion was added to this figure in 2018. Zorlu Enerji became one of the first companies around the world that implements a structure sustainable loan, whose total volume around the world today has reached €84.7 billion. There were a total of 41 green loan agreements around the world when Zorlu Enerji signed a green loan agreement. Among these agreements, only four are similar to the structure that materialized between Garanti BBVA and Zorlu Enerji. This structure is a first for Turkey in this regard and carries properties of being fifth around the world.