Air Liquide issues green bonds worth EUR 500 million to finance the energy transition

The new €500 million ($542 million) green bond issued by Air Liquide will be used to finance or refinance a range of energy transition and sustainable projects, mainly related to low-emission hydrogen, carbon capture and low-emission atmospheric gases.

The company’s first green bond was issued in 2021 to align it with ESG principles. The latest bond – which was oversubscribed by investors – was acquired under the Air Liquide Euromedium-Term Bond program (EMTN).

This will enable the company to raise bonds with a 10-year maturity at a yield of 3.466%.

“The success of the second green bond issue illustrates investor confidence in Air Liquide’s ability to implement technologies and pioneer projects that contribute to the decarbonization of our business and also help our customers reduce their carbon footprint,” said Jérôme Pelletan, Group Chief Financial Officer.

The issue is part of the company’s ADVANCE program, which identifies four key priorities regarding financial performance, decarbonization, technological innovation and stakeholder, customer and shareholder engagement.

“Air Liquide’s technologies, especially in the areas of low-carbon hydrogen, carbon capture and low-emission air gases, actively and concretely contribute to the transition to a low-carbon society.”

During its April investor relations earnings call, Air Liquide confirmed that the number of projects in its energy transition portfolio continues to gain “strong momentum”, despite many projects still awaiting FID (final investment decision) in previous quarters.

“We continue to see strong interest in the supply of low-emission hydrogen in various parts of the world,” said François Jackow, revealing that the company has received several engineering and project preparation orders over the past few months.

In February, Air Liquide signed a renewable energy agreement with Sasol to decarbonize oxygen production in Secunda, South Africa, using renewable energy.

Air Liquide and Sasol currently have a combined renewable capacity of 690 MW, which translates into an annual production of CO2 emissions of approximately 1.2 million tonnes.

In the US, the company recently announced that it will launch two new production units that will produce biogas from manure from dairy farms.

The units located in Pennsylvania and Michigan have a combined production capacity of 74 gigawatt hours.