Verizon has allocated nearly all of its fifth $1 billion green bond, with $994.1 million of net proceeds going entirely to renewable energy purchase agreements for renewable energy projects.
The bond was issued in May 2023 and is the fifth from Verizon, which issued its first green bond in 2019. Verizon is the first telecom company to issue a green bond.
The renewable energy payment agreements for the fifth bond, which were executed between February 2023 and January 2024, support projects that are under development in Illinois, Maine, North Dakota, Ohio, and West Virginia. They cover nearly 900 megawatts of new renewable energy generating capacity -- 53% of which is solar energy generating capacity and about 47% is wind energy generating capacity.
The telecom giant signed four long-term power purchase agreements for up to 410 MW of renewable energy capacity earlier this year.
“The $5 billion of green bonds that we have issued to date are instrumental to our efforts to achieve our goal of net-zero emissions in our operations by 2035,” Tony Skiadas, Verizon’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a statement. “As one of the leading corporate buyers of renewable energy and one of the largest green bond issuers in the U.S., we are proud to help accelerate the greening of the U.S. electrical grid as we work to meet our goals around climate protection.”
As part of its renewable energy buying program, Verizon has entered into 27 renewable energy payment agreements, totaling 3.6 gigawatts of anticipated energy capacity. So far, the energy deals will enable Verizon to exceed its target of reaching 50% of total annual electricity consumption with renewable energy by 2025, the company said. The company has a target of reaching 100% renewable energy consumption by 2030.
Verizon’s green bond plan has been ongoing for several years. The company joined The Climate Pledge -- the commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early -- in 2020. The company is now one of the largest issuers of green bonds in the United States.
In addition to allocating the funds of its fifth green bond, Verizon also raised $1 billion for a sixth green bond, Bloomberg reported.
