AgriNurture, Inc. (ANI), the listed agro-commercial enterprise of businessman Antonio Tiu, was cited in the 2021 Cicero Shades of Green Best Practices report which showcases best practices among global green bond issuers.
The Oslo-based climate research institute CICERO provides independent, research-based evaluations of green bond investment frameworks to determine their environmental strength.
Its annual Shades of Green Best Practices report helps investors by providing green, sustainability-linked financing frameworks and climate risk assessments of companies.
In its 2021 listing, ANI was one of only two agriculture firms highlighted in Cicero’s report alongside Lantmännen, a Swedish agricultural cooperative.
"AgriNurture is a Philippine agro-commercial business focusing on sustainable environmental practices," Cicero said in its report.
It added that, “The most significant investments are expected in the environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources category by investing in organic/sustainable plantations, using a combination of proven organic technologies and methods and without the use of new agricultural land.”
AgriNurture recently received a CICERO Medium Green shading with a governance score of Good.
In citing ANI, Cicero considered the company’s certified organic agriculture practices aimed at improving land fertility, reducing and eliminating chemical fertilizers as well as the integration of climate resilience and adaptation strategies to climate risks.
It also considered ANI’s practices with potential impacts on expansion of agricultural roads as well as involvement of fossil fuel equipment in agriculture activities.
Last March, ANI obtained a certification from Cicero Shades of Green for its planned 75 million Euro Green Bond offer in the European Union.
The Medium Green rating – a first for a Philippine company – is reserved to "projects and solutions that represent steps toward the long-term vision."
Proceeds from the bond issuance would be used to fund ANI's planned agricultural project expansion geared towards climate change adaptation and to minimize its carbon footprint.
ANI Chairman Tiu said these projects include organic farming, energy efficiency, environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use, clean transportation, and digital agriculture.
“These projects will position the AgriNurture Group to be carbon neutral by 2030 under his #GREEN2030 vision,” he said.
Cicero’s Second Party Opinions and Company Assessments are built on climate science, drawing on competence from its parent organization CICERO Center for International Climate Research, one of the world’s foremost institutes for interdisciplinary climate research.