1 February 2011

Electrabel invests in carbon funds

De Brauw advised Electrabel on its participation in two international carbon funds: the Second Tranche of the Umbrella Carbon Facility of the World Bank (with a maximum capitalisation of EUR 105 million) and the EIB-KfW Carbon Programme (with a total value EUR 100 million).

Electrabel invests in these funds in order to secure part of its future compliance position under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The two funds will invest in carbon emission reduction projects in developing countries, under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The funds will distribute the carbon credits generated by the CDM projects to their investors. Electrabel can use these to offset the carbon emissions from its installations (such as power plants) that fall under the EU ETS. Electrabel was one of the main "launching investors" of the funds, and De Brauw worked closely with the legal teams at the World Bank and KfW.on the fund documentation and project agreement.

Team: Sander Simonetti, Jonathan Soeharno