Rome, November 27th, 2019 – Enel S.p.A. (“Enel”) has received for its first time an “AAA” rating, up from “AA” in 2018, by MSCI ESG Research Ltd. (“MSCI”), a leading research and data provider measuring companies’ performance on the grounds of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors. Specifically, Enel is among the top ten companies out of the utilities included.
Enel CEO and General Manager Francesco Starace, said: “Enel’s rating upgrade by MSCI is the most important 2019 milestone in terms of our relentless work on ESG ratings. This represents the culmination of a rewarding year for our commitment to sustainability, which is testament to the validity of our strategy that sees sustainability as a key driver of value creation for the Group. Specifically, in 2019 we launched the world’s first general purpose SDG-linked bonds, directly linking sustainability targets to financial returns, and we were once again confirmed in the main global sustainability indices. Again in 2019, we were the only global utility and only Italian company to join the United Nations Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance, following a call from UN Secretary-General António Guterres to 30 influential corporate leaders with the aim to cooperate over the next two years in the area of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) financing.”
Enel’s top MSCI rating is mainly attributable to its major growth in the renewable sector, which has led the Group to become the world’s largest private renewable player with around 46 GW of managed capacity globally, and to the company’s recent pledge to reduce its direct greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2030 vs. 2017 levels, reaching around 125 g/kWh, as certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
The rating of the other Enel Group companies is as follows:
• Endesa: “AA”, which remains the same from 2018;
• Enel Américas: “A”, up from its “BBB” rating in 2018;
• Enel Chile: “A”, up from “BBB” in 2018.
Enel’s global sustainability leadership is acknowledged through its presence in several other renowned sustainability indices, such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, the FTSE4Good Index, the Euronext VIGEO-EIRIS indices, the STOXX Global ESG Leaders indices, the OEKOM “Prime” rating, the ECPI indices, and the Thomson Reuters/S-Network ESG Best Practices Indices.
Enel is increasingly attracting the attention of Socially Responsible Investors (SRI), whose stake in the company is steadily growing, representing about 10.5% of the Group’s share capital in 2019, up 78% compared to 2014. This increase reflects the growing importance the financial market gives to non-financial elements in the creation of long-term sustainable value.
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