Equinix Issues More Than $750 Million in Green Bonds to Drive Sustainability Initiatives
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company®, today announced that it issued more than $750 million in green bonds across two completed offerings. The green bonds will enable Equinix to advance on its sustainability initiatives and drive improvements in the operational eco-efficiency of its business. With these latest issuances, Equinix will have issued a total of approximately $5.6 billion of green bonds, making it one of the top 10 largest U.S. corporate issuers in the investment-grade green bond market.
"Green bonds serve as a valuable means to secure funding and support significant initiatives that enhance the sustainability of our operations," explains Katrina Rymill, SVP Corporate Finance & Sustainability, Equinix. "Over the last five years, our green bonds have funded 172 green building projects across 105 sites, 33 energy efficiency projects and two Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) projects. Green bonds underscore Equinix's dedication to build energy-efficient infrastructure, implement renewable energy sources and reduce our carbon emissions. Through the allocation of our green bonds, we have been able to directly align our financing needs with our sustainability strategy."
Equinix issued €600 million principal amount of 3.65% senior green notes due 2033. This follows the issuance of Swiss Franc 100 million principal amount of 1.5575% senior green notes due 2029. Equinix used rate locks to hedge a significant portion of the interest rate risk associated with the issuance of both the Euro and Swiss Franc green bonds. Accounting for such hedges, the Euro and Swiss Franc green bonds are expected to carry an effective coupon of 3.62% and 1.67%, respectively. The Euro offering closed on September 3, 2024, and the Swiss Franc offering closed on September 4, 2024.
Equinix intends to allocate an amount equal to the net proceeds from the green bonds to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, recently completed or future Eligible Green Projects. Equinix's allocation strategy includes covering project expenditures up to two years before the issuance of the green bonds and three years following the green bond issuance. These projects, which form the backbone of the company's sustainability mission, span a wide range of impactful categories—from green building development and renewable energy innovations to advanced energy efficiency, resource conservation and cutting-edge decarbonization solutions.
Highlights/Key Facts
- Equinix's Eligible Green Projects follow its 2024 Green Finance Framework based on the Green Bond Principles of June 2021 and Green Loan Principles of February 2023, a set of guidelines that promote transparency and integrity in, and advance the standardization of, green debt disclosures. The Framework aims to increase Equinix's focus on protecting the environment and addressing global climate change through greenhouse gas emissions reductions, increasing resource efficiency and driving corporate transparency and accountability.
- Equinix had previously issued an aggregate of $4.9 billion of investment-grade green bonds under its 2020 Green Finance Framework to advance its progress toward its near-term science-based target to become climate neutral by 2030 and improve the operational eco-efficiency of its business. As of the end of June 2023, Equinix had fully allocated the proceeds from these green bonds in accordance with the 2020 Green Finance Framework.
- Globally, Equinix continues to invest in new and innovative technologies in energy efficiency, renewable energy and heat export projects as part of its global Future First sustainability strategy, focusing on areas that have the greatest impact on customers and key stakeholders.
- In 2023, it maintained 96% renewable energy coverage across its portfolio. It also remains highly focused on improving the energy efficiency of its facilities as measured by power usage effectiveness (PUE), which improved 8%+ compared to the prior year.
- In addition, Equinix was recognized for its climate performance and transparency in 2023 by achieving the highest ranking of the CDP's prestigious Climate Change A List for the second consecutive year. Of 23,000+ companies that disclosed environmental data to CDP in 2023, less than 2% received the top score.
- Equinix continues to advance its green initiatives through its participation as a founding signatory of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Operator Pact and Self-Regulatory Initiative, which is leading advocacy and steering the development of sustainability requirements for the EU data center industry to become climate neutral by 2030.
Additional Resources
About Equinix
Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company®. Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our intent to allocate an amount equal to the net proceeds from the green bonds to finance, or refinance, a portfolio of Eligible Green Projects; the effective coupon rates on the green bonds as a result of hedging; the intended impact of our Green Finance Framework; our long-term sustainability goals; and similar statements that are not historical facts. Please see recent and upcoming Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix, for factors that might cause such differences. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
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SOURCE Equinix, Inc.
