Despite having already exceeded volumes anticipated this year, the green bond market continues to be highly active, and BNP Paribas has once more brought landmark transactions to the market.
Glass manufacturer Owens-Illinois (O-I) added to this momentum by issuing its inaugural green bond, a landmark €500 million transaction making it the first ever US high yield industrial green bond issuer. Given the diversity the bond brings to the growing green bond market, investor demand was strong and the deal was approximately three times oversubscribed.
Owens-Illinois is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of glass packaging. This bond will support O-I’s commitments to a low-carbon, circular economy, and proceeds will be used for projects related to:
- renewable energy
- energy efficiency
- sustainable water and wastewater management
- environmentally friendly production technologies and processes
- the circular economy
- environmentally friendly adapted products.
Sustainalytics provided a Second Party Opinion assessing the alignment of O-I’s Framework with the ICMA’s Green Bond Principles.
By targeting these uses of proceeds in its green bond framework, O-I is contributing to specific UN Sustainable Development Goals including SDG6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG7 (clean and affordable energy), SDG9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG12 (sustainable production and consumption).
Supporting corporates in their sustainability journey is a core objective of BNP Paribas, and the bank acted as sole Global Coordinator and Green Structuring Advisor on a the bond.
The same week as the O-I green bond deal priced, BNP Paribas acted as an underwriter for Apple’s €2bn green bond, which will be used for lowering carbon emissions across the company’s supply chain and supporting the energy transition.