Pepsi Issues $1 Billion in Green Bonds to Fund its Sustainability Initiatives

PepsiCo, Inc. today announced that it has priced the company’s first ever green bond. The net proceeds from the $1 billion green bond offering will fund a series of key initiatives to advance PepsiCo’s sustainability agenda.

The company also announced that it has named PepsiCo leader Simon Lowden as its first chief sustainability officer. In this new role, effective immediately, Lowden will be responsible for leading PepsiCo’s Sustainability Office, including the Global Sustainable Plastics team and Global Sustainable Operations team.

In September, PepsiCo released its 2018 Sustainability Report, which outlined six priority areas where the company believes it can make the best contribution — agriculture, water, packaging, products, climate, and people — along with eight measurable goals. The following eligible categories for the use of the Green Bonds net proceeds are aligned with these priorities and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• Sustainable Plastics and Packaging: PepsiCo has a new target to reduce 35% of virgin plastic content across its beverage portfolio by 2025. Green bond proceeds will help reach this target by funding projects that purchase compostable, biodegradable and/or recyclable material for use in product packaging, and by investing in the development of packaging that includes bio-based PET bottles and compostable and biodegradable snacks flex films.
• Decarbonization of Operations and Supply Chain: PepsiCo has set a goal of reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 20% by 2030, from a 2015 baseline. Green Bond proceeds will advance this goal by funding projects that improve energy efficiency, utilize cleaner transportation that replaces fossil fuel-powered cars with electric vehicles, and train farmers on ways to improve soil health.
• Water Sustainability: By 2025, in high water-risk areas, PepsiCo aims to replenish 100% of the water it consumes in its manufacturing operations and improve its operational water-use efficiency. Green Bond proceeds will support this goal by funding projects focused on water recycling and reuse, alternative crop rotation/tree planting, and providing smallholder farmers with access to drip irrigation and other water-saving technologies.

Earlier this month, Frito-Lay — a division of PepsiCo, Inc. — announced it aims to replace all of its existing diesel-powered freight equipment with zero-emission (ZE) and near-zero emission (NZE) technologies at its Modesto, California manufacturing site. The project will transform the 500,000-square-foot site — one of Frito-Lay’s largest in the US — into an area for environmentally sustainable manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.