The pan-European bandwidth infrastructure provider, which connects more than 600 data centres across 53 cities in 17 countries, announced on Wednesday that the revised loan framework now includes a Network Development ‘Impact by Design’ requirement and a target for continuous improvement in its GRESB infrastructure benchmark score.
The design-phase target is the more operationally significant of the two. Major construction projects account for roughly two-thirds of euNetworks’ greenhouse gas emissions and a large share of its annual capital investment. Under the new framework, sustainability criteria including lower-carbon materials, construction techniques and supplier solutions must be evaluated at the design stage, before project specifications are finalised. That changes when sustainability enters the conversation, moving it from a reporting exercise to a commercial and engineering input.
The GRESB target sets a course for continuous improvement against a benchmark designed specifically for infrastructure organisations, giving investors and customers a standardised measure of ESG performance alongside euNetworks’ existing Science Based Targets and Net Zero by 2040 commitment.
Marisa Trisolino, CEO of euNetworks, said: “Our new SLL targets mark an important step in euNetworks’ commitment to growing our business sustainably, focusing our efforts on the areas where we can deliver the greatest impact. The introduction of our NetDev Impact by Design Plans represents a significant evolution in how we approach major network development projects, embedding sustainability considerations from the very beginning of the design and planning process. This is complemented by our GRESB score improvement target, which provides a rigorous measure of ESG performance for organisations delivering infrastructure-led growth. Together, these targets will help us drive meaningful emissions reductions across euNetworks, for our customers and for our wider supply chain.”
The SLL was originally established at €760 million in 2021 to support euNetworks’ fibre network expansion across Europe, then refinanced and expanded to its current size in 2024. A gender diversity target, introduced with the original loan, remains unchanged.
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