Clifford Chance has advised UAE flag carrier Etihad Aviation Group on the first sustainability-linked-loan (SLL) tied to environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets in global aviation. The transaction is the largest sustainable financing in the airline’s history.

It follows its first-of-a-kind sustainability-linked transition sukuk in 2020, which Clifford Chance also advised on. The ground-breaking SLL transaction has raised US$1.2 billion with loan terms tied to: reducing the intensity of the Etihad passenger fleet’s carbon emissions; advancing female participation and training at the Global Business Service Solutions centre; and the Integrity Score, a comprehensive measure implemented by Etihad to assess the overall internal culture of integrity at the airline.

The Clifford Chance team was led by Nicola Reader (Partner, Abu Dhabi) with assistance from Andrew McAdam (Senior Associate, Dubai) and Vany Attarian (Associate, Dubai).

Consistently ranked Band 1 in legal directories, Clifford Chance was named Middle East International Law Firm of the Year at the Chambers Middle East Awards 2021. The firm’s Middle East banking and finance practice has a strong track record of advising on some of the most innovative and ground-breaking transactions from sovereign, corporate and financial institution issuers and borrowers in the Middle East. This recently includes advising on APICORP’s inaugural green bond, the world’s first sustainable Tier 2 sukuk issuance by Kuveyt Türk, and on the world’s first transition sukuk issuance by Etihad Airways. Clifford Chance also advised on Majid Al Futtaim’s debut “green” issuance and the first green sukuk issuance by a GCC corporate.