Investors and lenders continuously improve on their sustainability approach in a world where they are held publicly accountable for any signs of underperformance. In that light the energy sector is placed under increased scrutiny when it comes to capital allocation. With the newly published EU Taxonomy, access to capital for companies in the oil & gas industry is not a given. “We are not in the greenest sector,” admits Boudewijn, “but the world will need oil while working towards an energy transition , and SBM Offshore is committed to meeting the needs of an evolving energy mix, with a more dominant role for gas and renewables in the future. Sustainability linked loans will help in making this transition.” Jordan adds “The sustainability performance adjustment allows for the RCF’s margin to increase or decrease depending on the Company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance as measured by Sustainalytics. Companies like SBM Offshore have a leading HSSE approach and culture with. This exact skill is needed in the transition towards a more sustainable world. We should, therefore, be wary of short-termism, hypes and greenwashing. We see a strong push from the banks to issue loans that are linked to sustainability, but the eye should always be on the ball for the underlying long term impact – in our view linked to the UN SDGs.” “Stakeholders and banks should always be critical on the actual sustainability performance,” Boudewijn points out. “A vessel that happens to be dual fuel, and can run on the ‘cleaner’ Liquidified Natural Gas (LNG), still emits CO2. Whether a ‘green bond’ should apply here can be questioned” There is still room for development in the concept of sustainability linked loans. Jordan: “One example is SBM Offshore’s eMission ZERO™, a program aiming to bring to market solutions that have near zero emissions in the operational phase. This is where the sector can make a big difference. ”
