Rabobank Group

30-11-2009 | CSR news

Rabobank focuses on promoting sustainable energy as the most important energy source for the future. It is committed to contributing actively to this development by consciously choosing to invest in sustainable energy. The related condition is that there be a sufficient number of energy projects.

Sustainable energy projects
Rabobank has already played a role in realising more than EUR 5 billion in sustainable energy projects in recent years through Renewable Energy & Infrastructure Finance and the Rabo Green Bank. Examples include projects such as the Princess Amalia Wind Farm (an offshore wind project in the Netherlands), Belwind (an offshore wind project in Belgium), Belfuture (rooftop solar project in Belgium), Ecopower Bonaire (onshore wind project in Bonaire) and a wind farm project in the northern part of the Maharashtra district in India.

Dutch Greentech Fund
The Dutch Greentech Fund that Rabobank recently introduced is another excellent example. This fund invests in promising Dutch technology start-ups that provide innovative technologies or processes that make the chain from raw material to end product more sustainable. The fund also concentrates on other activities including sustainable energy. It furthermore adheres to stringent sustainability criteria. In addition to Rabobank, the World Wildlife Fund is one of the participants in the fund.

From fossil energy to sustainable energy
Bringing about a shift from fossil energy to sustainable energy generation is vital in order to successfully limit climate change. Financing coal-fired power stations consequently no longer fits into the bank’s strategic focus, unless the stations in question are co-fired with sustainable biomass or are equipped with a system for carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Confidence to invest in sustainable energy
In order to give sustainable energy a considerable boost, it is crucially important that the government creates favourable conditions by establishing a long-term and clear (subsidy) scheme. It must be a statutory scheme that gives distinctive precedence to sustainable energy both on the mains power supply and in the market. This will provide the market with the necessary confidence to invest in sustainable energy applications. The Dutch government could, for example, add a new category within the existing Green Scheme for companies that demonstrably wish to invest in reducing their energy footprint and CO2 emissions.