Canadian Solar Wins Green Project Bond of the Year Award by Environmental Finance

Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ) announced that it has won Environmental Finance's Green Project Bond of the Year award for its JPY 18.5 billiongreen samurai private placement.

Canadian Solar completed its three-year, JPY 18.5 billion ($120 million) private placement in 2023. The innovative bond enhances liquidity and flexibility, empowering Canadian Solar's global development business, Recurrent Energy, to grow its solar and battery energy storage projects under development and asset management business.

Environmental Finance is an industry-leading global publication established in 1999. Its annual Sustainable Debt Awards celebrate leading green, social, sustainable and sustainability-linked bond and loan deals and recognize market innovations.

A Sustainable Debt Awards judge commended Canadian Solar's transaction, noting that while "securitizations of solar assets are common in the market", the deal was additive because it enabled the issuer to tap into a wider pool of investors than it previously had done. Environmental Finance also praised the deal for enabling Canadian Solar to "plug into the ultra-low interest rate environment in Japan, where long-term, fixed-rate products are scarce."

The Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. ("JCR") not only assigned this structured bond an investment grade rating of "A-," but also certified the issuer with the highest Green 1 rating under the Japanese Green Bond guidelines. Orix Bank Corporation was designated as the trustee of the bond, and Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. ("GS") served as the lead arranger and sole book runner with domestic bond investors.

This is the second green project bond of the year award Canadian Solar has received from Environmental Finance, following the one awarded in 2018 for Canadian Solar's JPY5.4 billion ($47 million) Gunma Aramaki project bond placement with Goldman Sachs Japan.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, commented, "We are honored to again receive the Green Project Bond of the Year, acknowledging our innovative financing strategies for our global development business. Recurrent Energy continues to expand in response to growing global demand in renewable energy, supported by its proven track record in solar and battery energy storage development and robust financing capabilities."

Makoto Ito, head of the Financing Group at Goldman Sachs in Japan, said: "Goldman Sachs is proud to be at the forefront of capital markets activity and innovation, both globally and in Japan. We are honored to continue the longstanding partnership with Canadian Solar to help them achieve their most important strategic and financing objectives."

Full results of the Environmental Finance's Sustainable Debt Awards 2024 can be found at https://www.environmental-finance.com/content/awards/environmental-finances-sustainable-debt-awards-2024/

Canadian Solar | www.canadiansolar.com