- Co-op, together with its banking partners, has extended its sustainability linked Revolving Credit Facility out to November 2029. The extension also underlines Co-op’s continued commitment to a more sustainable future as well as providing a backstop liquidity facility for the Group for the next 5 years.
- The deal builds on the updated ambitious new sustainability and social targets the Group announced earlier this year in the original facility agreement including reducing carbon emissions across our supply chain as well as lowering levels of food waste. The extended facility announced today reiterates those commitments and adds in a new gender and ethnicity metric.
Co-op has announced the extension of its main bank revolving credit facility for the next five years. The £400 million sustainability-linked revolving credit facility underlines Co-op’s continued commitment to a more sustainable future and aligns with ambitious sustainability and social goals targets initiated within the original facility agreement and the wider Co-op member-centric Vision and Strategy.
Co-op’s Revolving Credit Facility provides a backstop liquidity source with access to additional funds should they be needed to support the Group’s vision and growth strategy. Six banks support Co-op in the extended facility, National Westminster Bank, Barclays Bank, Handelsbanken PLC, Lloyds Bank PLC, ING Bank and Santander. The five-year deal announced today underscores the growing financial strength of the Group.
The extended bank facility links the cost of borrowing for the Group to specific Co-op ESG commitments. In pursuit of Co-op’s commitment to achieve Net Zero status the business aims to have 79% of suppliers enrolled in the Science Based Targets initiative by end of 2030 (starting base 47%) and targeting a reduction of c.650 tonnes of food waste per year across stores and depots. It also introduces a new metric focussing on proportions of both women and ethnic minorities at management levels with a goal to align both with ONS published UK population data.
As a starting base, around 47% of Co-op’s Scope 3 emissions are covered by suppliers adhering to the Science Based Targets initiative. As part of the refreshed targets linked to this facility, the Co-op is working with its supply chain to increase that figure to 79% by the end of 2030. Efforts to support suppliers in achieving this include building cross-sector partnerships, disseminating clear sustainability guidance to suppliers, working with farmers and growers to reduce emissions from primary production, and embedding sustainability goals into contracts and joint business plans, among other initiatives.
Co-op has already committed to halving food waste generated by its stores and depots by 2030, aligning with the WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) best practices. As part of this lending commitment, Co-op aims to reduce almost 650 tonnes of food waste per year over the life of the sustainability-linked loan. This endeavour involves thorough assessments of operations, fostering essential partnerships to tackle food waste, and promoting awareness among our customers about the issue of food waste.
Furthermore, we are committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer that represents the communities we serve. We believe that means being fair and transparent in how we recruit and ensuring that we drive progress. We are proud to be the only major retailer to have a female Chief Executive Officer from an ethnic minority background, a female Chief Financial Officer and a female chair of our board. The new metric in our bank facility sees us targeting proportions of women and proportions of ethnic minorities at management levels with a goal to align with ONS published UK population data.
Rachel Izzard, CFO at Co-op, said: “The successful extension of our credit facility out to 2029 underscores the improved financial position of our Co-op, the balance sheet strength we now have to fuel our sustainable profitable growth ambitions, and the collective confidence in our ongoing financial resilience. As a Co-op we are here to create sustainable value for our more than 6 million active member-owners and the communities in which we operate and source from. It is wonderful, and true to our Co-op heritage and values, to be able to weave our social value commitments into our longer-term funding strategies. I would like to personally thank our partner banks for their shared commitment in supporting these important areas, which matter so much to our member-owners.”
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