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Sustainable Finance in Action for Brazilian Juice Operations

November 11, 2022

As part of our commitment to shape increasingly sustainable food and agricultural value chains, LDC signed in July 2022 a sustainability-linked, 10-year US$40 million term loan facility with Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (Proparco), a subsidiary of Groupe Agence Française de Développement (AFD Group). This is the Group’s first facility including both environmental and social commitments.

A significant share of the funds will be allocated to the capital expenditure needs of LDC’s Juice business for climate change impact mitigation[1] and sustainable development projects, integrating social KPIs to support LDC supplier certification in line with the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (SAI/FSA) metrics[2].

“We are pleased to have finalized this transaction with Proparco, which complements LDC’s commitment to adopt sustainability-linked principles in its funding strategy,” said Benoît David-Bellouard, LDC’s Global Head of Treasury, Financing & Corporate Finance. “Linking sustainable financing with our operations underpins company-wide efforts to create fair and sustainable value across our activities and value chains.”

The social KPIs defined as part of this facility are linked with LDC’s efforts to help citrus fruit suppliers attain SAI/FSA silver or gold grade verification, with a target to increase volumes sourced from suppliers applying verified sustainable farming practices.

“To ensure our approach is inclusive of suppliers with different scales of production, we are also defining targets to certify a percentage of fruit boxes from small, medium and larger growers, helping to promote sustainable practices among all supplier profiles and across the citrus belt,” added Monica Neves, LDC’s Juice Sustainability Coordinator. “Supporting our suppliers by sharing best practices and facilitating access to certification and verification is central to our business model and collaborative approach to sustainability.”

“We are thrilled to support LDC’s commitment to reduce the environmental impact of its Brazilian juice operations, from water treatment and consumption optimization in the context of intensifying droughts, to energy use and emissions reduction” stated Philippe Serres, South America Regional Director at Proparco.

Discover our latest Sustainability Report for more information on our efforts and commitments toward increasingly sustainable business activities and supply chains.


[1] A specific percentage of proceeds will be linked to climate change projects in LDC Sucos, that will occur in the next years

[2] SAI’s Farm Sustainability Assessment is a tool to engage, assess and improve sustainability practices at farm level.


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