First green financing in seafood given to Atlantic Sapphire but won’t be the last.
From a categoric no in 2015 to a USD 60 million dollar loan in 2017 – DNB’s confidence in Atlantic Sapphire is on the rise. In May, the Florida land-based salmon farmer engaged DNB Market to raise a further USD 90 million in fresh funds, in just 29 minutes.
Now, the debt facility with DNB and EKF – which is supporting them to build their 90,000-tonne megafarm in Miami, USA – has been approved as green by DNV G.
The loan was found to conform to DNB’s Sustainable Product Framework under the “Sustainable Food, Agriculture, Forestry” category.
Atlantic Sapphire CEO Johan E. Andreassen told SalmonBusiness in an email: “Atlantic Sapphire is very proud that the debt facility with DNB and EKF has been approved as “green” by DNV GL, making it the first “green” seafood loan of DNB. Sustainability is at the core of our company’s business plan, as our pioneering Bluehouse farming concept not only takes advantage of the salmon aquaculture’s beneficial resource efficiency, but also addresses many of the conventional net pen industry issues, like the large CO2 footprint of transporting salmon by air to distant end-markets.”
DNB Global head of seafood Anne Hvistendahl added: “I am very happy with the Atlantic Sapphire loan being approved as green by DNV GL. This is our first green loan in the seafood sector, but not the last. We are working on classifying several other seafood loans as green. Green financing will become increasingly important both for our clients and ourselves – and even our own funding. Aquaculture has the potential to help solve the problem of how to feed a growing population on a planet which is already climate challenged and sees a reduction in biodiversity. That makes aquaculture a natural candidate for green financing”.
Atlantic Sapphire aims to produce 220,000 tonnes of salmon a year by 2031.
