Akbank and İklimsa have joined their forces to develop customized client solutions for all clients in corporate, commercial, SME and retail segments with rooftop solar panels. In line with Akbank’s aim to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy, the first of its kind collaboration offers special products and prices in financing rooftop solar panel (RSP) investments.
Akbank, which undertakes leading projects in the field of sustainable finance with the target of providing 200 billion TL sustainable loan financing by 2030, and Iklimsa, the leading brand in HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), subsidiary of Teknosa, signed a cooperation protocol within the scope of Akbank's “RSP Investment Loan” product. Within the scope of this collaboration, Akbank will accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy by offering customized client solutions and prices in financing solar panel investments and will collaborate with İklimsa as EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) to meet its customer’s end-to-end needs.
By adding “RSP Investment Loan” to its sustainability-focused products last year, Akbank aims to support organisations who wants to reduce their environmental footprint, improve energy efficiency, shift to clean production and most importantly support organisations in their carbon neutral path. Akbank and Iklimsa, a private-sector company which has been growing and expanding continuously for 37 years, serving with more than 500 retailers, sales corners and after sales service points in 67 of Turkey’s provinces and from its 5 regional directorates all over Turkey, got together with the aim of developing customized solutions for all clients in the corporate, commercial, SME and retail segments who demand solar energy panels. This collaboration holds the particularity of being the first and sole in rooftop solar panel’s financing field which proposes specific solutions for all segments.
Levent Çelebioğlu, Executive Vice President of Akbank Corporate and Investment Banking, made the following statements about the collaboration: “In line with our 2030 targets, we play a pioneering role in the sector with our sustainable financing solutions and collaborations tailored to our customers. We believe that climate finance is very important for our country, and we produce customer-specific solutions. In particular, issues that closely related to our sectors are continuously on our agenda, such as Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which will start with identified sectors as of 2026 , and ‘2053 net zero emission target of Turkey’. In this regards, we play a leading role in the transition of our portfolio sectors to a low carbon economy with the right financing model. We understand the current situation of our customers and transform climate-related risks into opportunities with our sustainable finance products that we have developed specifically for the sector. I am very pleased to announce that our “RSP Investment Loan” has been expanded to serve all segments and sectors at this point. While our retail customers can position this product on the rooftops of their buildings and residences, our customers in the Corporate, Commercial and SME segments will also be able to benefit from this product with sector-based special solutions. At this point, we are very happy to make the first and only collaboration with the HVAC leading brand Iklimsa, within the scope of Rooftop Solar Panel which is the most comprehensive in the industry expanding all segments.”
Tansu Öztorun, Deputy General Manager of İklimsa Business Unit, has also mentioned:
“İklimsa, as one of the most rooted air-conditioning companies in Turkey with its 37-year existence and the leading brand of the HVAC industry operating under of its parent company Teknosa, has chosen to use their experience for our future with its more than 500 authorized dealers and service networks in 67 provinces, with more than 1,500 human resources. As Iklimsa, we started our journey to restructure and expand the rooftop solar panel business model as of the beginning of 2021. Within this period, Turkey signed the Paris Climate Agreement in September 2021 and played an important role in putting forth the incentives for the sector in a short time. There have been also number of developments supporting investment increases in this area, such as VAT exemption for SCT solar and wind energy investors, 30 percent tax reduction in addition to customs duty, requirement of supplying at least 5 percent of used energy from renewable energy resources such as solar energy, wind energy and heat pumps for buildings with a total construction areas of more than 5,000 square meters in a parcel as of 1 January 2023. In this context, as Iklimsa, we accelerated our works on Rooftop Solar Energy Systems project and signed a very important collaboration with Akbank. We are very happy to get together with Akbank, which is the pioneer of combating climate change and sustainable finance in the banking sector, to offer customer-specific solutions to all customers in the corporate, commercial, SME and retail segments who demand RSP, and to meet their end-to-end needs. This collaboration will be an important gain for our customers, for the sector, and for Turkey and for our future in terms of achieving targets.”