Environmental and Social Policy

1. EUROFIMA Overview
2. Mission and Ownership Structure
3. Activity
4. Role of EUROFIMA in promoting Sustainable and Green Transportation
5. Sustainability policy
6. EUROFIMA’s footprint
7. Continuous development of the Policy and Guidelines

EUROFIMA Overview

EUROFIMA European Company for the Financing of Railroad Rolling Stock is a supranational organization located in Basel, Switzerland. It was established in 1956 based on an international treaty signed by 25 European sovereign States so far. EUROFIMA fulfils a non-profit maximizing mission to support the development of rail transportation in Europe. It supports its shareholder railways as well as other railway bodies in renewing and modernizing their equipment.

Mission and Ownership Structure

EUROFIMA’s mission is to support the development of rail transport in its 25 Member States. As such, the shareholders of EUROFIMA include 26 national railway operators of its Member States.

The three largest shareholders (Deutsche Bahn AG, SNCF Mobilités, and Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A.) are also the three largest national railway operators in Europe.

Activity

EUROFIMA finances railway equipment through borrowings or equity capital. EUROFIMA secures title to or obtains security interests deemed equivalent (in particular pledges) on or in respect of rolling stock. The general principles of EUROFIMA’s activity are defined in an agreement (the “Basic Agreement”) between the shareholder railways and EUROFIMA. The Basic Agreement remains valid for the entire duration of EUROFIMA’s existence and can only be altered with the consent of all the railways and EUROFIMA. EUROFIMA’s equity is primarily used for investments in liquid assets and, to a limited extent, for equipment financing contracts.

Role of EUROFIMA in promoting Sustainable and Green Transportation

Establishing a low-carbon future has become an increasing point of geopolitical focus. The COP21 conference in Paris in 2015 marked a milestone of international cooperation in which 196 representatives in attendance reached an agreement on the reduction of climate change. The centre of the agreement focused on reducing global warming to less than two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels and for zero net greenhouse gas emissions to be reached during the second half of the 21st century. On 22 April 2016, 174 countries signed this agreement and began to take steps to implement these measures into their own legal systems.

The goal of promoting sustainability is at the core of EUROFIMA’s public mission. Supporting the growth and development of passenger rail transport is key to addressing the problem of CO2 emissions attributable to the transportation sector and to reducing overall energy consumption. As countries across Europe work to meet the sustainability targets outlined by Europe 2020 and by the COP21 agreement, EUROFIMA is determined to serve as partner to its Member States in fulfilling their objectives.

Sustainability Policy

This Policy covers the environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. EUROFIMA recognises that sustainability ranks high among the priorities of its activities. By following its Sustainability Policy and its Green Bond Framework, EUROFIMA improves the predictability, transparency and accountability of its actions. EUROFIMA recognises that taking environmental and social aspects into account is part of good business and leads to sustainable development. EUROFIMA believes that with this approach economic growth and a healthy environment go hand in hand.

EUROFIMA believes in good human resources management. Respect for workers’ rights and their freedom of association is part of good business. EUROFIMA does not accept discrimination based on gender, race, nationality, ethnic origin, skin colour, marital status religion, disability, age or sexual orientation and does not tolerate any mental, physical or sexual harassment or any other infringment that violates employee’s right to dignity and respect in the workplace.

Transparency, accountability and integrity are key principles for achieving sustainable development. EUROFIMA is committed to promoting openness and good governance in all its operations and to maintaining an open dialogue with its stakeholders. EUROFIMA is further committed to its business ethics and to fight fraud and corruption in all its activities. Details of our commitments are captured in separate policy documents.

EUROFIMA also commits itself to act as a good corporate citizen and will pursue improvements on a permanent basis in its operations and in applying best practices in environmental management in its internal operations (including energy and resource efficiency, waste reduction and recycling) and human resources management (such as equal opportunity, work/life balance, health and safety). EUROFIMA actively and continuously works to improve its environmental management system and to improve the environmental qualities of the projects which it finances.

EUROFIMA’s footprint

EUROFIMA will allocate the appropriate resources and conduct in-house training in order to ensure the effective implementation of the Sustainability Policy and Guidelines.

EUROFIMA will include a section on sustainability in its Annual Report with information on impacts related to EUROFIMA’s project portfolio as well as on impacts from its internal operations.

Continuous development of the Policy and Guidelines

EUROFIMA’s Sustainability Policy and Guidelines will be subject to periodic review by the Management Committee of EUROFIMA.

The environmental and social policy has been approved by the board of directors on September 17, 2019.