Walmart to Further Sustainability Goals With $2B Green Bond

Proceeds will support key environmental initiatives

9/9/2021

Walmart to Further Sustainability Goals With $2B Green Bond

Over the next few years, Walmart plans to allocate an amount equal to the net proceeds of a $2 billion bond toward a portfolio of eligible green investments.

Walmart Inc. has successfully priced the company’s first green bond. Net proceeds from the $2 billion offering will go to fund existing and future projects enabling Walmart to meet its sustainability goals. Yahoo Finance has described the offering as the biggest ever from a U.S. corporation.

Over the next few years, the company plans to allocate an amount equal to the net proceeds of the $2 billion bond toward a portfolio of eligible green investments that meet certain eligibility criteria within the areas of renewable energy, high-performance buildings, sustainable transport, zero waste and circular economy, water stewardship, and habitat restoration and conservation.

Walmart will release an annual public report with information on allocation to, and the estimated impact of, the eligible green investments until an amount equal to the net proceeds of the green bond has been allocated. An outside consultant has issued a second-party opinion.

The green bond is part of $7 billion of new senior unsecured notes that Walmart has successfully priced across five-, seven-, 10-, 20- and 30-year tranches.

Leading the green bond as active bookrunners were four minority- and women-owned firms: African-American and service-disabled veteran-owned AmeriVet Securities Inc., women-owned C.L. King & Associates Inc., Hispanic-owned Samuel A. Ramirez & Co. Inc., and African American- and women-owned Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC. BofA Securities Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC also served as active bookrunners on the green bond, with BofA Securities serving as the green structuring agent and Citigroup Global Markets as diversity and inclusion coordinator.

In its recent environmental, social and governance report, Walmart noted that its suppliers have avoided more than a cumulative total of 416 MMT of CO2e (Scope 3) through Project Gigaton since the program's inception in 2017, and that it achieved a 12.1% reduction in Scopes 1 and 2 emissions, compared with the 2015 baseline. The retailer is targeting zero emissions across its global operations by 2040 without relying on carbon offsets.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart operates more than 10,500 stores under 48 banners in 24 countries, and e-commerce websites, employing 2.2 million-plus associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Walmart-owned Sam’s Club ranks No. 9 on the list.