Press release
1st Dec, 2021
Olam secures US$150 million loan to purchase sustainable cotton under the Better Cotton Initiative
Singapore
Leading global food and agri-business Olam International Limited (“Olam’’) has secured a financing facility (“the Facility”) linked to the procurement of sustainable cotton under the Better Cotton Initiative (“BCI”).
Aggregating US$150 million, the Facility has a 2-year tenor and has Olam Treasury Pte. Ltd. and Olam Global Agri Treasury Pte. Ltd. as co-borrowers. Proceeds from the Facility will be used for procurement of sustainable cotton licensed by BCI.
N Muthukumar, Group CFO of Olam, said:
“Olam continues to re-imagine what sustainable financing can look like through innovative, purpose-driven initiatives that have the strong support of our banking partners. This Facility supports Olam’s procurement of sustainable cotton via the Better Cotton Initiative, while combining Olam’s operational ability, leadership position in cotton and sustainability focus with the banks’ objective of supporting more financing linked to sustainable activities.”
News
6th Oct, 2020
Does Your Sustainability Reporting Start At The Source?
Sustainability reporting requires a lot of work, and it's only going to get more difficult over time as communities expect more from businesses and businesses demand more from themselves. That's where AtSource comes in, and why it's always getting better. AtSource CEO Roel Van Poppel explains…
The sustainability challenges facing our world and the efforts to meet them are immense. A variety of entities monitor and rate the activities of large businesses, including those in the food and agri-business industries. In fact, because their supply chains touch the farthest, most remote, and often the poorest communities on the planet, much is expected from them concerning how their operations impact and improve health, environmental, financial, and social well-being. Read more
News
23rd Sep, 2020
From a marshal plan to mandatory reporting
This time last year Olam’s Co-Founder and Group CEO Sunny Verghese was heading from venue to venue in a hot, frenzied but very exciting New York where he was taking part in annual events to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In his capacity as CEO, and as Chair of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, he was asked to speak on his experiences of tackling the very many poverty and climate related issues in the agricultural sector. This year the UN is 75 years old and the events are taking place virtually. But within the context of COVID-19 there is an even greater urgency to deliver the 17 Global Goals by 2030. In this video Sunny lays out his thoughts on what needs to be done.
News
27th Aug, 2020
Olam’s head of environment calls for financial sector to join the sustainability conversation
In an exclusive podcast for Confectionery News, Chris Brown, Head of Environment at Olam explains why the need to do more to drive system transformation is a question that should be on everyone’s minds.
Chris Brown, Vice President and Global Head of Environment, Olam International
“Olam on their own aren’t going to solve landscape level challenges. It’s about involving the farmers and the communities, the politicians and the regulators, as well as the NGOs. AtSource has provided us with a great tool to drive our action around sustainability - we need to take this and everything else we’ve developed over the years to address landscape-level challenges, and bring in multiple parties, often with conflicting points of view and needs, and together find a common pathway. Crucially, the financial sector also needs to be part of the conversation to drive change at scale.”
LISTEN
Blog
5th May, 2021
Greater urgency and partnership are needed to kick-start a smallholder farmer recovery stuck on pause
The tidal impact of COVID-19 has resulted in humanitarian and economic consequences that have been felt across the globe. The progress made against the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly towards no poverty and zero hunger, has been seriously hampered since the pandemic took hold over one year ago. Hard-won gains such as reducing childhood stunting actually stand to be reversed.
An Olam-conducted survey of over 3,400 farmers across 19 countries has shown the impact smallholder farmers have seen to their incomes, livelihoods and their communities as changes and disruptions have been felt across global food and agricultural supply chains. Read the article by Julie Greene, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability, on Agri-Pulse and read our Farmer Barometer report here.
