750 million euros raised to finance school building and urban redevelopment projects, with particular focus on safety
Rome March 21, 2019 Over 60% of public school buildings in Italy were built before 1975; almost 30% of the schools in the country are located in seismic areas; 24 million people live in areas of seismic risk, while another 6 million live in areas with hydrogeological risk. These figures indicate a clear gap in the social infrastructure sector in Italy, and as a consequence, there is a need for safety and urban redevelopment projects. To this end, CDP, which has always been committed to development in the country, has issued a new Social Bond, with a nominal value of 750 million euros. This will finance “eligible projects” in compliance with the Social Bond Principles, published by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA). The proceeds of the new social bond, which has a seven year duration, will be used for the construction, modernisation, safety measures and earthquake-proofing of public school buildings and for the redevelopment of urban infrastructure in the country, ensuring safer and accessible public spaces for everyone. The newly issued bond was inspired by the SDGs 4 and 11, “Quality education” and “Sustainable cities and communities” respectively, and confirms CDP’s growing commitment to develop fund raising systems dedicated to activities with a positive social and environmental impact. In fact, the new Business Plan outlines a path for CDP, focused on sustainability issues, which will translate in to an action model which is increasingly focused on sustainable development, as defined within the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. The issue is fixed rate, unsubordinated and unsecured and falls under CDP’s “Green, Social and Sustainability Bond Framework”, which defines the criteria for these types of sustainable bonds. Mainly addressed to Socially Responsible Investors, the issue was also taken up by over 100 investors (mainly international), with a demand of around 1.7 billion euros.