Funds raised through green bond issuances are allocated to eligible projects, including:

• renewal and remediation of aging stations
• safety and regulatory compliance (except accessibility)
• sustainable station upgrades
• accessibility upgrades (50% of total costs)
• improvements to service quality

Only upgrades to stations on electrified rail lines in UIC Groups 1 to 6¹ are eligible for green bond funding. New stations built as part of the EOLE project are not eligible.

Because station upgrade costs are partially covered by public subsidies, green bond proceeds cannot be considered solely responsible for the avoided emissions associated with these projects.

Without regular renewal, infrastructure gradually deteriorates and must eventually be taken out of service, forcing rail users to shift to other modes of transport. Regenerating stations is therefore essential to making sure rail mobility remains a viable option.

The average lifespan of a station without upgrades is 40 years, meaning that a 20-year-old station has already reached half of its expected service life. By investing in upgrades and extending asset life, we can postpone disrepair by one year. We estimate that to add one year to the lifespan of all its stations, SNCF Gares & Connexions must invest €363 million in regenerating them.

Emissions generated by station upgrades consist of two main components:

• Emissions associated with the design and installation phases of projects
• Emissions from the construction works themselves

We apply a weighted average to determine the relative contribution of these two components within a single emissions factor for station upgrades. Based on current estimates, this emissions factor for upgrades is 123tCO₂e per €1 million invested.

Avoided emissions are calculated by comparing transport-system emissions under two scenarios: one without the upgrades and one with the upgrades.

This method takes into account:

• emissions avoided by upgrading the stations and thus preventing a modal shift to more carbon-intensive transport modes
• emissions generated by the transport modes that would be used in the event of such a modal shift

In addition to emissions from the station works themselves, our calculation includes emissions from train operations associated with the rail traffic maintained as a result of these upgrades.