If last year was any indication, 2022 may be another record-setting year for the sustainable syndicated loan market. According to financial data provider Refinitiv, new issuances of sustainability-linked loans (“SLLs”) climbed to $717 billion in 2021, an increase of more than 300 percent year-over-year from 2020. As appetite for sustainability-linked credit facilities grows, lenders should also be prepared to address the evolving requirements of borrowers in this market. Traditionally, SLLs have been aligned more toward the environmental component of a borrower’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy; however, as borrowers carve out more space for non-environmental goals in their ESG strategies, SLLs are now increasingly incorporating social goals as well, either on a stand-alone basis, or in addition to environmental (and/or governance) goals.
For the uninitiated, sustainability-linked loans are a type of loan instrument designed to incentivize borrowers to achieve certain predetermined environmentally and/or socially sustainable objectives. A distinguishing feature of an SLL is that a particular economic outcome, usually a reduction (or increase) in the loan’s pricing, is made contingent upon the borrower’s satisfaction of (or failure to satisfy) sustainability performance targets (SPTs) that correspond to certain predetermined key performance indicators (KPIs). Unlike green loans, SLLs do not require the loan proceeds to be used for a green or...
NEW HAVEN — A New Haven man pleaded guilty Friday to making false claims to the IRS after he was accused of fraudulently obtaining nearly $257,000 in COVID-19 relief funds, federal prosecutors sai...