A green bond for high-speed rail

Spanish state-owned company Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias-Alta Velocidad (ADIF-AV) engages in construction and management of the Spanish high-speed rail infrastructure. ADIF is the conventional railway counterpart. The company is the monopolist railway network provider in the country and administrates and maintains the infrastructure and distributes the capacity to rail operators.

Impact investment rationale

• Rail transportation is a sustainable mobility solution, causing significantly less CO2 emission per passenger kilometer compared to cars or airplanes. Even high-speed trains, including the construction of the required infrastructure, have a much lower carbon footprint than airplanes. This makes them a suitable and much more sustainable alternative for intra-European mobility.
• The proceeds of the green bond issued by ADIF-AV will be used to finance new highspeed rail tracks, track maintenance and upgrades, including improvement of the energy efficiency of the rail network. 
• ADIF-AV has strong reporting ambitions regarding the bond’s impact. It intends to not only report about expected, but also about the measured impact of the bond’s proceeds. With a previous green bond, the company proved willing and able to report comprehensively about the impact of the bond, following the methodology and criteria established by the European Commission*.

ADIF-AV contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:

*See for more info the European Commission document “Guide to Cost-benefit Analysis of Investments Projects. Economic appraisal tool for Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 “, published in 2014.
 

Sustainable Mobility and Infrastructure

Mobility and infrastructure cover a broad range of facilities, structures, systems and services that support the day-today operations of human society. The infrastructure sectors of transport, energy and water, telecommunication, waste and sanitation are among the most important elements of infrastructure. Sustainable infrastructure is designed, constructed and operated to optimise the environmental, social and economic impact.

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