Sustainable Finance

Sustainability is a highly relevant topic for different areas, including finance. Therefore, investments in companies and activities committed to respecting and valuing ESG aspects, an acronym in English for environmental, social and governance, are growing. According to a survey by the consulting firm PWC, 79% of investors believe that ESG issues are important factors in their investment decision-making.

Good for Society

In line with our sustainability strategy, we have issued debt linked to ESG targets in areas such as water use and diversity, equity and inclusion. This means that while we are able to raise funds at more attractive rates, we can also be financially penalized through an increase in these rates if our ESG targets are not met. This way, the company leverages its goals in a sustainable manner, while society benefits from ambitious targets that support the environment and social development.

Sustainable Debt Instruments

Check out the different ESG debt instruments we have employed.

Sustainability-Linked Bonds

Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) are internationally traded fixed-income financial instruments where the issuer, which can be a company, commits to achieving preestablished environmental, social or governance targets.

We were the second company in the world to issue an SLB, in 2020, and the first company in Latin America to issue a diversity-linked bond, in 2021.

Sustainability-Linked Loan (SLL)

Sustainability-Linked Loans (SLLs) are financing lines granted directly by public or private banks to companies. As with SLBs, the debtor commits to meeting ESG targets.

In 2021, Suzano signed a sustainability-linked export prepayment contract. In 2022, the company signed a financing agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, linked not only to sustainability targets, but also to an action plan to comply with IFC’s rigorous ESG Performance Standards.

Green Bonds

Like SLBs, Green Bonds are internationally traded fixed-income financial instruments. The difference is that Green Bond issuers, instead of being tied to sustainability targets, are committed to investing the resources in specific projects that have environmental benefits.

Before the merger of Suzano and Fibria, the two companies issued Green Bonds in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

40%

of our debt is linked to sustainability instruments

4,9 billion

has been raised through SLBs and SLLs since 2020

Measuring Impact

Since 2021, we have measured our environmental externalities using an Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) account.

This initiative is part of a comprehensive strategy to assess the integrated impact of the natural, social, human and financial capitals, driven by the challenge of creating a regenerative economy.

The balance between the positive and negative impact of our operations on natural capital considers the following aspects:

  • Greenhouse gas emissions
  • Water consumption
  • Air pollution
  • Water and soil pollution
  • Waste generation
  • Biodiversity conservation
  • Ecosystem services, which include carbon removal and fixation, water conservation, erosion prevention and maintenance of soil fertility.

Visit the Sustainability Indicators page for more information.

Sustainable Expansion

In 2023, sustainability became one of the criteria for the approval of our capex modernization and expansion investments, used to finance projects to increase the productivity or installed capacity of our plants, improve the quality of our existing products or processes, launch new products, acquire new technologies or build new plants.

Our goal with this decision is to be more transparent regarding the impact of our projects and align our investment decisions with our sustainability strategy.

To achieve this, we will evaluate each new modernization and expansion project according to its environmental and social attributes and alignment with our Commitments to Renewing Life. One of our instruments is our internal carbon price, which will consider a project’s potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help decarbonize our operations. Projects with the best carbon prices will be prioritized by the company.

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