OREANDA-NEWS. June 08, 2007. Vienna-based Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG (RZB) was awarded the "FT Sustainable Banking Award for Carbon Finance" in London. This award recognises groundbreaking initiatives and transactions in the area of carbon finance. The 2007 FT Sustainable Awards have received 151 entries from more than 100 banks in 51 countries. The Award for Carbon Finance was handed out for the first time, reported the press-centre of Raiffeisen.

"For more than 140 years, the Raiffeisen Group has shown an excellent track record in sustainability", said Walter Rothensteiner, CEO of RZB. "RZB is one of Austria's leading providers of carbon finance, which reflects our attitude to combine business ethics with economic success. This award encourages us all the more not only to continue on our course but even to push our efforts in the future."

RZB financed the first worldwide nitrous oxide (N2O) emission reduction project under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at a nitric acid plant in Abu Qir (Egypt). It is also the first Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in the Arab Republic of Egypt and the largest Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction project in Africa.

FT UK Business Editor and chairman of the jury John Willman commented on the reasons for the jury's choice: "This project, which is outstanding by both effectiveness and dimension, will serve as an international benchmark. We expect that nitrous oxide-emitters and banks will follow RZB's example. Austrian know-how helps reducing the emission of the most dangerous of all greenhouse gases significantly.

The jury considered Abu Qir as proof that a project can both be economically successful and be executed in an ecological and socially responsible manner. In 2007 alone, RZB finances three other comparable projects in South Korea.

The winning project at a glance
A new tail gas treatment unit was implemented and commissioned in the Abu Qir Fertilizer Company's nitric acid plants in September 2006. More than 99 per cent of N2O will be abated. The N2O abatement corresponds to an annual CO2 reduction of over 1.2 million tonnes. This amount will be converted into Carbon Emission Reduction certificates (CERs) reserved for carbon neutrality trading. For the first time in such a project, cash flow for the repayment instalments will be solely generated through the sale of emission certificates. N2O is among the most dangerous greenhouse-gases with one kilogram corresponding to 300 kilograms of CO2.

The Austrian project developer, Carbon Projektentwicklung GmbH, and the project operator voluntarily agreed on donating a three per cent share of the total income from selling of the CERs to a social fund. This fund shall contribute to the social benefit of the people living in the area of Abu Qir by financing sustainable projects in schools, hospitals and infrastructure.

About the FT Sustainable Banking Awards
The FT Sustainable Banking Awards, created by the Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), recognise banks that have shown leadership and innovation in integrating social, environmental and corporate governance objectives into their operations.

This year's judging panel was co-chaired by senior representatives of the FT and IFC, and included leading figures involved in sustainable finance and development such as John Willman, UK Business Editor Financial Times, Lars Thunell, Executive Vice President and CEO of the IFC, Paul Clements-Hunt, United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI), Paul Grimes, Chief Operating Officer of the FTSE Group, Sergio Rosa, Chief Executive Officer at PREVI, and Tessa Tennant of the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia.