Sustainability and environmentalism are important in every aspect of our lives, and every effort counts. Businesses that are environmentally conscious fare better than their counterparts in multiple areas from reduced overheads to appealing to a larger client and talent base.

Corporate strategies are being designed with sustainability in mind to ensure longevity and reduce the footprint of businesses. One such company doing this is Treasury Wine Estates (ASX: TWE) who have refinanced existing debt facilities to establish a set of Sustainability Linked Loans (SLLs).

The past year has seen many developments at the Company as part of their effort to ‘cultivate a brighter future’. By putting sustainability goals and initiatives in place the Company is determined to hold themselves accountable to achieve them. As people now commonly question where their food comes from and how it is produced, these transparent targets are hopefully set to foster greater trust from consumers, giving people a reason to reach for TWE brands over others.

Under the newly established SLLs, Treasury Wine Estates will seek to use 100% renewable electricity by the year 2024 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Company also wants to undertake a comprehensive review of water usage to optimise usage and lower costs. Finally, looking beyond the natural environment, TWE is turning to the workplace environment, seeking to have 50% of their senior leadership team be female by 2025.

Viticulture is relatively light on the carbon footprint front. Only a third of wine’s carbon footprint stems from vineyard and cellar operations, the majority however is largely due to packaging, distribution, storage and sale of the products.

Chief Sustainability and External Affairs Officer, Kirsten Gray said: “As a custodian of some of the world’s most iconic wine brands and with a large global footprint, ew have a responsibility to be a leader in sustainability and recognise that it is fundamental to our long-term success. This approach is embedded in our strategy and the establishment of the sustainability linked loans is another important step towards integrating our sustainability agenda across the business.”

Chief Financial Officer, Matt Young also commented on the new goals, “Integrating our sustainability performance with our financing framework is a really important step for both our sustainability and capital market journeys, incentivising us to move even more quickly towards achieving our sustainability ambitions and targets.”