Lower interest rates by doing good

This came from Forbes. It’s a significant change of approach by the financial world. And by a publicly quoted company.

Danone from France has secured the world’s first credit facility, amounting to $2 billion, where the interest rate it must pay is lowered “if Danone increases its verified positive impact on the world”.

More technically, the rate is “explicitly tied to its third-party-verified ESG performance.” ESG stands for Environment Social Governance.

One of the reported key ESG criteria is the “percentage of Danone’s consolidated sales from its certified B Corp subsidiaries. Higher B Corp sales equals lower cost of capital.” B Corps are for profit companies independently certified to meet specific standards of benefit through transparency, accountability, social and environmental performance.

So far, there are over 2,400 B Corporations in more than 50 countries.

I believe this could catch on.