Santiago, Chile-based fishing and salmon-farming firm Blumar has signed a USD 260 million (EUR 244 million) sustainability-linked loan.
The syndicated loan – led by Rabobank and with the participation of banks DNB, Santander, and BCI – establishes sustainability goals for 2030 along four main pillars. Blumar will benefit from lower interest rates as long as it complies with the objectives of the pillars, but will have to pay penalties if it fails to meet those goals.
The first focus area is in gender equity, which Blumar said makes it the first fishing and salmon-farming firm in Chile to do so. To aid it in this objective, Blumar incorporated the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEP) – a project led by the United Nations (UN) Global Compact and UN Women to evaluate gender gaps – into the work carried out by the company's executive committee on gender equity.
“Gender equity is part of our people strategy, and incorporating a clear and verifiable goal in this refinancing challenges us to move faster and with better tools,” Blumar General Manager Gerardo Balbontín said in a release. “We are proud to be the first in the sector to adopt this commitment, but we know that it is an important responsibility, which we take with the utmost seriousness.”
The second pillar is related to climate change, with a commitment to reduce scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 30 percent from a 2020 emissions baseline, as well as a commitment to establish scope 3 emissions reduction goals. Blumar said it expects to incorporate the Science-Based Target initiative (SBTi) methodology to define its climate objectives. The SBTi is a corporate climate action organization, partnered with the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, World Wide Fund for Nature, and CDP. So far, more than 1,000 companies have joined the initiative.
The third focus area is to lower Blumar’s antibiotics use by 60 percent from 2017 levels. Blumar is frequently among salmon farming companies with the lowest antibiotics use in Chile, and in 2022 used the least antibiotics among eight Chilean salmon farmers in the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI).
The fourth pillar of the sustainability-linked loan is to minimize the amount of waste sent to landfill and promote the circular economy, with Blumar looking to recycle at least 90 percent of its waste.
“This financing model confirms that sustainability cuts across the company and is much more than an area, but rather a way to generate value for the future. We seek to be resilient to climate change and contribute to the fight against this phenomenon with actions and concrete, measurable goals,” Balbontín said. “Signing this new loan with sustainable commitments will allow us to continue challenging our strategy and to work together towards 2030, in line with our commitment to the SDGs and the company's development model.”
Blumar said the financing is its second such sustainability linked loan, having signed a similar scheme in 2020 under a model developed with Rabobank, leading a group of global and national banks.
It previously outlined five corporate sustainability goals to be reached by 2027: a reduced carbon footprint, more sustainability certifications, lower use of antibiotics, adoption of circular waste management, and growing its energy efficiency.
