NIB creates new financing structure enabling investors to support ambitious corporate sustainability targets

NIB creates new financing structure enabling investors to support ambitious corporate sustainability targets

(IN BRIEF) The Nordic Investment Bank has introduced its Sustainability-linked Loans Financing Bond Framework, enabling the issuance of bonds tied to portfolios of sustainability-linked loans that incentivize companies to achieve ambitious environmental performance goals. This framework strengthens NIB’s role in supporting corporate climate transitions across the Nordic-Baltic region while providing investors with a reliable channel to back sustainability efforts. Unlike traditional green bonds tied to specific assets, these instruments link financial terms to company-wide climate targets, encouraging broad-based decarbonization. The initiative is confirmed by S&P Global Ratings as fully aligned with the latest ICMA Sustainability-Linked Loans Financing Bonds Guidelines and conceptually aligned with the Green Bond Principles, ensuring credibility and transparency.

(PRESS RELEASE) HELSINKI, 11-Sep-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) has launched a new Sustainability-linked Loans Financing Bond Framework (SLLB Framework), creating a pathway for issuing bonds dedicated to financing a portfolio of selected sustainability-linked loans (SLLs). This initiative expands NIB’s sustainable finance offering by supporting corporate climate transition efforts across the Nordic-Baltic region while offering investors a transparent and credible way to channel capital into transition pathways.

S&P Global Ratings has issued a Second Opinion confirming that the framework aligns with the Sustainability-Linked Loans Financing Bonds Guidelines (SLLBG) published by ICMA, reinforcing its credibility and alignment with best market practices.

Sustainability-linked loans represent a growing tool for companies committed to strengthening their climate strategies. “By supporting our borrowers in their sustainability transition, sustainability-linked financing helps NIB bring its lending portfolio in line with the Paris Climate Agreement,” said André Küüsvek, NIB President & CEO.

How the framework works
The new SLLB Framework enables NIB to issue Sustainability-linked Loans Financing Bonds (SLLBs), with proceeds directed exclusively toward NIB-financed sustainability-linked loans that meet rigorous eligibility and sustainability criteria. These criteria ensure the credibility, materiality, and ambition of borrowers’ sustainability performance targets.

Unlike traditional use-of-proceeds instruments that are tied to specific green assets, SLLs incentivize broader corporate sustainability by linking loan terms to measurable environmental key performance indicators (KPIs) and ambitious sustainability performance targets (SPTs). This approach allows companies to accelerate decarbonization and adopt climate-focused strategies at a corporate level rather than on an asset-by-asset basis.

Angela Brusas, Director of Funding and Investor Relations at NIB, emphasized the importance of this development: “The NIB SLLB Framework provides investors with a trusted mechanism to support companies and sectors actively transitioning towards sustainable business models. We have designed the framework based on the proven use-of-proceeds concept from green bonds, giving investors confidence in its integrity.”

Advancing sustainability goals
Through this framework, NIB enhances its sustainability-linked financing by focusing on credible and ambitious goals such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all scopes, while also enabling borrowers to pursue additional sustainability objectives. “This framework strengthens our ability to drive meaningful corporate transitions, ensuring that sustainability targets are material and credible,” explained Zanda Krukle, Senior Sustainability Advisor at NIB.

The framework follows Approach 1 of the ICMA’s Sustainability-Linked Loans Financing Bonds Guidelines, prioritizing transparency and portfolio-level KPI and SPT assessments. It centers on a single overarching objective: reducing climate change impacts.

S&P Global Ratings confirmed that the framework is fully aligned with the 2024 SLLBG Guidelines (including the June 2025 Annex) and conceptually aligned with the 2025 ICMA Green Bond Principles, a validation deemed equivalent to complete adherence under their methodology.

For further details, visit NIB’s Sustainability-Linked Loans page and ESG Library.

NIB is the international financial institution of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden. The Bank finances projects that improve productivity and benefit the environment of the Nordic-Baltic region. The Bank is headquartered in Helsinki with a regional hub in Riga. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s.

Media Contacts:

Jens Hellerup, Senior Director, Head of Funding & Investor Relations, +358 96 181 1401 Jens.Hellerup@nib.int

Luca De Lorenzo, Vice President, Head of Sustainability & Mandate, +358 010 618 0297, Luca.DeLorenzo@nib.int

SOURCE: Nordic Investment Bank