Eesti Energia’s investment is earmarked to acquire high quality carbon credits after the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period, which means that emission reduction units will be purchased only from 2013 to 2020.
NEFCO’s Vice President and Head of Carbon Finance and Funds Unit, Ash Sharma stated ”Eesti Energia is an important actor in the regional power market, and is making huge strides to reduce the carbon footprint of its generation mix. The NEFCO Carbon Fund therefore welcomes Eesti Energia as a fund participant, and as the first company from a Baltic country to participate in its community of Carbon Finance and Funds participants.”
NEFCO Carbon Fund (NeCF) procures emission reduction units on behalf of its investors enabling them to meet their commitments under the EU Emission Trading Scheme and the Kyoto Protocol. The NEFCO Carbon Fund (NeCF), which was established in 2008, has so far invested in a 100% renewable energy portfolio, primarily in wind and hydro energy projects in Asia and Latin America. There are currently 14 projects contracted at the ERPA stage, and a number of projects at the Letter of Intent stage in Southeast Asia, India and China.
The NeCF now has access to total financial resources of EUR 165.3 million, raised from both sovereign and private sector actors. The Finnish utilities EPV Energy and Vapo and international power company GDF Suez have previously invested EUR 58 million into the fund’s Kyoto Plus tranche, which was launched August 2010. Therefore the targeted capitalisation has been exceeded and the Fund Manager has decided to close the second tranche.
For more information, please contact:
Ash Sharma, Vice President, NEFCO, +358 400 811 327
Mikael Sjövall, Communications Manager, NEFCO, +358 50 3535 045
NEFCO is an international financial institution owned by the five Nordic countries and mainly finances environmental-related projects and investments in Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus, in order to generate positive environmental effects for the Nordic region. Its Carbon Finance and Funds Unit operates globally, and has assets under management including carbon finance facilities, climate guarantees and technical assistance products exceeding EUR 222 million. www.nefco.org/cff
This is the third time that NEFCO has gone to the compliance market to raise capital for carbon procurement. On each occasion, it has exceeded targeted volumes. In 2005/6, it raised EUR 20 million (against a target of EUR 15 million) for the Tranche 2 of the Baltic Sea Region Testing Ground Facility. In 2008, it launched the global NEFCO Carbon Fund (NeCF), raising EUR 100 million against a target of EUR 50 million. The current Kyoto Plus tranche of the NeCF launched in autumn 2010 has closed at EUR 68 million against targeted EUR 30-50 million.
Eesti Energia is an international company that manages the complete value chain, providing complex energy solutions from heat, electricity and fuel to sales, maintenance and additional energy-related services. In addition to operations in Estonia, Eesti Energia also sells electricity to retail customers in Latvia and Lithuania where it trades under the Enefit trademark. Eesti Energia operates in the Baltic States, Finland, Jordan and USA. The company is 100% owned by the Republic of Estonia and registered on the London Stock Exchange. It generated profits of EUR 144 million on sales of EUR 784 million in 2010.
