Comcast has announced the issuance of a $1 billion 10-year green bond, as it aims to get investors to support environmental initiatives.
According to the company, proceeds from the green bond may be allocated to five investment areas which will drive the Comcast's clean energy infrastructure projects.
These five investment areas are renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings, campuses, communities and cities, clean transportation, and circular economy-adapted products, production technologies, and processes.
"We’re excited to have offered investors the opportunity to join us as we scale clean energy technologies and other decarbonization strategies across our business,” said Sara Cronenwett, Comcast's Senior Vice President of corporate strategy and environmental sustainability.
Comcast is aiming to become carbon-neutral by 2035, and revealed it's already made steady progress towards these goals.
In a press release, the company said its reduced scope 1 and 2 emissions by 31 percent since 2019, while also doubling its usage of renewable electricity from 2020 to 2021. Other highlights include decreasing its cable’s energy per consumed terabyte by nearly 30 percent from 2019 to 2021.
The firm has also been piloting electric and hybrid vehicles in select locations, and noted that it has increased the number of green buildings that it owns or occupies, including the LEED Platinum Comcast Technology Center.
The green bond was led by BofA Securities, Inc., which was the sole Green Structuring Agent, an Active Bookrunner, and a Coordinator for the minority- and women-owned broker-dealers on the transaction.
Other book-runners leading this bond included service-disabled veteran-owned Academy Securities, Inc., African-American-owned Loop Capital Markets LLC, Hispanic-owned Samuel A. Ramirez & Company, Inc., and African-American and women-owned Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC.
Whether general-purpose sustainability-linked loans or project-specific green bonds, sustainability-linked financing is quickly becoming a common trend amongst data center and telco firms. Telcos including Verizon, NTT, KPN, and Telefónica have all raised new green-tied funds or converted existing debt to include interest rates tied to sustainability and ESG goals.