The judges of the Environmental Finance Sustainable Debt Awards this year described Eiffel Investment Group's sustainable lending process as "best in class" and "widely recognised by others", when awarding the fund/asset manager sustainable lender of the year award.

In 2019, Eiffel reports it became the first European private debt manager to launch an institutional impact fund, introducing its proprietary Impact Covenants® – a model that links loan pricing to the achievement of measurable sustainability objectives across climate, biodiversity and social inclusion. Since then, Eiffel says more than 290 such covenants have been implemented.

Another judge commended Eiffel's "great with focus on pre-defined sustainability objectives" that cover climate, biodiversity, and social inclusion.

Eiffel reports sustainability is integrated across 100% of its €3.5 billion ($4 billion) private debt platform, supported by internal scoring and third-party verification.

In terms of outcomes, its impact debt strategies have financed over 150 European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps supporting energy transition, healthcare and industrial decarbonisation, while maintaining a default rate of below 0.1%.

"A high level of care has clearly been taken to develop this robust approach to lending," commented one judge.

Eiffel Investment Group's sustainability-linked loan (SLL) to Havant has won Sustainability-linked loan of the year – corporate (EMEA) in this year's awards.