Colgate Will Finance These Sustainability Initiatives With Its €500 Million Sustainability Bond

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Consumer products company Colgate-Palmolive announced Wednesday that it has successfully priced a sustainability bond — a bond used to finance social and environmental projects — at half a million Euros. The bond will mature in eight years and supply bondholders with an interest rate of 0.3% per annum. The bond’s net proceeds will go toward goals outlined in Colgate’s 2025 Sustainability and Social Impact Strategy. According to the company, the bond will help further their efforts to decrease emissions, reduce manufacturing waste, eliminate plastic waste, and conserve water.

Colgate provided the following list of initiatives it plans to fund with its sustainability bond:

• Eco-efficient or circular economy adapted products, production technologies, and processes that drive sustainable sourcing and support the design of sustainable products, such as Colgate’s first-of-its-kind recyclable toothpaste tube.
• Pollution prevention and control measures that reduce waste in the production process and help to eliminate plastic waste.
• Actions that improve energy efficiency across Colgate’s manufacturing and non-manufacturing operations.
• Expenditures in renewable energy generation and procurement to support our Net Zero Carbon and 100% Renewable Electricity targets.
• Measures related to solutions that promote the sustainable management of water resources.
• Investments and expenditures related to messaging and promoting sustainable habits and behavior change, such as investments to reach two billion children with Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures? to help improve oral hygiene education and well-being and the Colgate “Save Water” program.
• Accelerating socioeconomic advancement and empowerment to improve diversity, education, health and wellbeing in the communities where we live and work.

These efforts will build on Colgate’s existing track record of sustainability improvements. In November 2019, the company began delivering the first officially recognized recyclable toothpaste tube. In January 2020, it introduced a new line of vegan toothpaste. In November 2020, it committed to sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. And in April of this year, Palmolive unveiled 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.