Green Bonds, Greener Logistics: Mercado Libre

Mercado Libre, Latin America’s largest digital marketplace, recently announced it successfully closed a public offering of US$400 million in green bonds set at a 2.375 percent rate for 2026 and of US$700 million at a 3.125 percent rate for 2031. The prices were set on Jan. 7, 2021, the company announced through a press release. With this move, Mercado Libre hopes to support financial inclusion initiatives, sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, social development and the empowerment of people through education. Green bonds are financial instruments that allow for sustainable finance and can help combat climate change. This financial tool creates a channel to fund and finance projects with renewable resources, infrastructure or sustainable transportation.

With the 2026 sustainable bonds, Mercado Libre has three main goals:

• First, generate financial inclusion through a number of credits for SMEs and entrepreneurs.
• Second, decrease its carbon footprint through a larger implementation of renewable energies, the acquisition of sustainable packaging and the promotion of a logistics network free of emissions.
• Third, social development and empowerment through education to help younger people join the workforce.

Recently, the company announced the arrival of EV product distribution vehicles in Mexico, through which it hopes to strengthen its logistics line while still making use of renewable resources. Mercado Libre also planned to expand its logistics network with these vehicles in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The move allows the company to have more alternatives to make fast deliveries all around Mexico and Latin America, with an investment of 70 vehicles, reports Marketing4Ecommerce. “The growth of e-commerce and the expansion of logistics solutions create a larger environmental impact. We want to be leaders of e-commerce in the region and create a transformation process toward increasingly cleaner operations, environmentally speaking. For this reason, we take on the challenge of promoting and leading the conversation so the growth of the business is environmentally conscious,” said David Geisen, CEO of Mercado Libre México, according to Marketing4Ecommerce.

MBN recently interviewed Iliana Vetrano, Vehicle, Real Estate, and Services Marketplace Director of Mercado Libre Mexico. She addressed future possibilities the company sees in dealerships’ digital capacity in Mexico. You can read the full interview here.