Rexel successfully completes its first sustainability-linked bond offering

On the 27th April 2021, in order to strengthen its commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Rexel successfully placed €300 million of its sustainability-linked bonds by tying its financing conditions to meeting its direct and indirect emissions-reduction targets.

Rexel recently obtained the most favourable interest rate in its history of 2.125%, which will be increased by 25 basis points as of June 2024 should the Group miss its interim environmental targets by the end of 2023. The relevance and ambition of these two targets have been rated as ‘advanced’ by independent CSR expert Vigeo Eiris. They are:

• A 23% reduction in GHG emissions related to the consumption of products sold per euro of turnover (scope 3), by 2023 as compared to 2016.
• A 23.7% reduction in GHG emissions related to the energy consumption of its operations (scope 1 and 2), by 2023 as compared to 2016.

The success of this sustainable bond issuance, which is testament to investor confidence in Rexel’s commitments and its determination to continuously improve its environmental performance, led the Group to place an additional €100 million bonds on the 7^th May 2021.

2030 Commitments

These latest sustainability-linked bond placements are part of Rexel’s long-term climate commitment strategy. Moreover, the Group’s 2030 objectives have been agreed in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change, and having been approved by the Science Based Target (SBTi) initiative aim to help limit global warming to less than +2°C by the end of the century.

In particular, the Group is committed to reducing:

• by 35% the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) related to the energy consumption of its operations (scopes 1 and 2) by 2030, as compared to 2016 ;
• by 45% per euro of revenue, the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) related to the use of its  products (scope 3) by 2030, as compared to 2016.