Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has published its first Sustainable Finance Framework (SFF).
The new framework sets out how AAHK intends to enter into Sustainable Finance Transactions (SFTs) to fund expenditure on projects that will deliver environmental and/or social benefits and support the operator’s objective to make Hong Kong International Airport the world’s greenest airport. SFTs include bonds, loans and other forms of debt financing to support sustainable development by application of the proceeds to Eligible Green and Social Projects Categories as defined in the SFF, the operator said.
A second party opinion has been obtained for the SFF from Sustainalytics with respect to the SFF’s alignment with the green bonds principles, green loan principles, social bond principles, social loan principles and sustainability bond guidelines. Sustainalytics released the second party opinion in late November, stating that it is of the opinion that AAHK’s SFF is credible and impactful and aligns with the Sustainability Bond Guidelines 2021, Green Bond Principles 2021, Social Bond Principles 2021, Green Loan Principles 2021, and Social Loan Principles 2021 based on Sustainalytics’ assessment of the four components of AAHK’s SFF including use of proceeds, process for project evaluation and selection, management of proceeds and reporting.
BofA Securities, BNP PARIBAS, HSBC and UBS acted as joint sustainability structuring advisors while ANZ, Bank of China, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint associate sustainability structuring advisors in connection with the establishment of the SFF.
