Media and technology company Comcast is pushing forward with a variety of climate-focused investments that aim to reduce its environmental impact and has released a report showing how it has used the financing from a green bond.
Comcast issued a $1 billion green bond in February 2023 that allowed investors to support ongoing environmental efforts and those under consideration as part of the company's green goals. The report outlines the partial allocation of proceeds from the green bond, including green buildings, clean transportation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy -- part of its Green Financing Framework.
Of note, the company said it reduced its market-based, enterprise-wide Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 38% from 2019 to year-end 2022.
“We’re pleased with the first allocation of our green bond offering as we take steps to invest responsibly and reduce our environmental impact across the enterprise,” Sara Cronenwett, senior vice president of corporate environmental sustainability at Comcast, said in a statement. “This allocation focused on green building construction and electric vehicle deployment at key NBCUniversal and Sky locations that will support more sustainable operations and productions from Hollywood to West London.”
Comcast also worked with S&P Global Ratings for an independent second-party opinion on the Green Financing Framework, determining it is aligned with the ICMA Green Bond Principles and Green Loan Principles.
Of the net proceeds of the bond, $410.4 million is allocated toward green building, with 644,000 square feet of new or expected certified green real estate. Another $8.9 million is allocated for clean transportation, $1.5 million for energy efficiency, and $1 million for renewable energy.
In total, $421.8 million of the $995 million has been allocated so far, with $573.2 million not yet allocated.
One of the green building projects mentioned in the report is new construction at Universal City Studios in Los Angeles where NBCUniversal is building new construction for offices, studios, and parks that will be LEED Gold Certified or better. A portion of the green bond net proceeds were allocated to construction at various stages at Universal City Studios.
Last year, Comcast Cable announced its effort to double its network energy efficiency by 2030 and cut electricity per consumed terabyte of data in half. In addition, the company has a goal to be carbon neutral by 2035 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Also last year, the company acquired 250 megawatts of solar electricity to power nearly 12% of its operations in the United States.
See the full report here.
