Italian supermarket chain Conad has secured a €25 million loan from Italian banking group UniCredit to support its sustainability initiatives.
The loan, linked to the achievement of environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives, will finance the purchase of goods and warehouse stocks, the retailer noted.
Conad has pledged to increase the percentage of its private-label products featuring packaging made from sustainable materials. It will also implement ‘consistent and rigorous’ monitoring of quality and traceability controls on Conad Percorso Qualità products throughout the supply chain.
‘An Important Recognition’
Francesco Avanzini, general director of operations of Conad Consorzio Nazionale, stated, “We are particularly satisfied with the agreement reached with UniCredit, which we see as an important recognition of the path we have started a few years ago, in the direction of increasing attention to every activity that contributes to reducing our impact on the environment and increasing attention to sustainability in our supply chains.
“We have already achieved important objectives because today 70% of the packaging of Conad brand products is made with sustainable materials, as we report in our sustainability report. Through this tool, which involves careful measurement of data, we will highlight our progress year after year.”
UniCredit
UniCredit will monitor Conad’s progress and provide consulting services to help the retailer achieve its sustainability goals.
The bank will track the company’s progress based on self-reported results found in Conad’s sustainability report.
Andrea Burchi, regional manager of Centro Nord UniCredit, commented, “The operation completed with Conad is part of our strategy of closeness to the territory and the entrepreneurial fabric. We work to support companies with a view to innovative and sustainable growth. [...] We do this by guaranteeing not only subsidised credit, but also targeted consultancy because sustainability is at the centre of our way of doing business and at the basis of our corporate culture.”
