Greenworks Lending Receives First-Ever Green Evaluation from S&P for C-PACE Assets
DARIEN, Conn., May 7, 2019 (Newswire.com) - Greenworks Lending, a specialty finance company dedicated to commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE), today announced that its first securitization of C-PACE assets, PACEWell 2 LLC, has received a Green Evaluation from S&P – the first-ever S&P Green Evaluation for a securitization of C-PACE-only assets.
Greenworks Lending’s PACEWell 2 LLC received an overall Green Evaluation Score of E1, which is the highest score on the S&P’s scale of E1-E4. PACEWell 2 LLC was also scored on transparency, governance and mitigation, where it received scores of 85, 81 and 78, respectively. The transparency score focuses on the quality of disclosure, reporting and management of bond proceeds. Governance assesses what steps have been taken to measure and manage the environmental impact of the proceeds of the financing, including certification, impact assessment, risk monitoring and risk management; and mitigation reflects the environmental impact of the use of proceeds over the life of the assets.
“We founded Greenworks Lending with a goal of bringing attractive capital to our borrowers to promote clean energy. Our company is driven by the mission that the capital markets have a key role to play in promoting a sustainable energy future. This recognition from Standard & Poor’s marks an exciting and important milestone for Greenworks and for the C-PACE industry,” said Jessica Bailey, CEO of Greenworks Lending. “C-PACE is a terrific tool to advance environmental goals, while also enabling building owners to make a smart investment decision. We want to continue to encourage and support clean energy investment and sustainability in any way we can, and a Green Evaluation was the logical next step for us.”
Greenworks Lending has had two rated securitizations of solely commercial PACE (C-PACE) assets and is largely credited for opening the market for the C-PACE asset class after it completed the industry’s first rated issuance in 2017. Chris Miller, senior director at Nuveen, who led the note purchase of Greenworks’ C-PACE assets, had this to say: “As a significant Green Bond investor and early investor in C-PACE securitizations, we are happy to see Greenworks Lending lead the industry in becoming the first provider of C-PACE financing to receive a Green Evaluation for these assets.”
PACEWell 2’s E1 score is reflective of robust governance and transparency measures, as Greenworks Lending publishes comprehensive quarterly reports on its environmental impact.
About Greenworks Lending
Led by several of the industry’s founding policy developers and standard-setters, Greenworks Lending is a private capital provider uniquely dedicated to funding commercial property owner investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects through state-legislated C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) programs on a national level. For more information, visit www.greenworkslending.com.
About C-PACE
C-PACE makes it possible for owners of commercial properties to obtain low-cost, long-term financing for energy efficiency, water conservation and renewable energy projects. The program starts with a state-level government policy that classifies clean energy upgrades as a public benefit – like a new sewer, water line or road. These upgrades can be financed with no money down and then repaid as a benefit assessment on the property tax bill over a term that matches the useful life of improvements and/or new construction infrastructure (typically 20 years). The assessment transfers on the sale of the property and can be passed through to tenants where appropriate. While facilitating sustainability efforts among the largest consumers of energy (businesses), the program saves property owners money by ensuring that the combination of energy savings and incentives is generally greater than the cost of repayment.
Media Contact:
Jamie McCorry
Greenworks Lending
860.419.5628 | jmccorry@greenworkslending.com
Source: Greenworks Lending