By Brazil Stock Guide – Natura Cosméticos SA (B3: NATU3) issued R$700 million in sustainability-linked debentures tied to targets for increasing the use of recycled and renewable plastic in packaging for its Natura and Avon brands. Natura has traded under NATU3 since July 2025, following the incorporation of Natura &Co Holding SA.
The transaction, coordinated by UBS BB, is structured as a Sustainability-Linked Bond, or SLB. UBS BB said its market survey identified the deal as the first corporate debenture in Brazil aligned with the International Capital Market Association’s Sustainable Bonds for Nature: A Practitioner’s Guide, published in 2025.
Natura also described the transaction as the first Nature Bond in the global cosmetics industry focused on plastic. The claim is based on the company and UBS BB’s assessment of the market.
The financing is tied to a key performance indicator measuring, by weight, the share of sustainable plastic in total plastic used in eligible finished-product packaging across Natura and Avon operations. The metric combines post-consumer recycled plastic, known as PCR, with eligible renewable-source plastic.
The share stood at 21% in 2022. Natura committed to increasing it to 43% by 2028 and 46% by 2029, while maintaining its previously announced target of reaching 50% by 2030.
Plastic Targets Move Into Financing Terms
The new issuance extends Natura’s use of sustainability-linked financing by connecting borrowing conditions to measurable packaging targets.
“With the launch of our 2050 Vision, we committed to becoming a 100% regenerative company by 2050. To achieve this, 100% of the plastics in our portfolio will come from renewable sources and be compostable. By linking the financial terms of the issuance to measurable sustainable-plastic targets, we turn a material circularity priority into a financial commitment,” Chief Financial Officer Silvia Vilas Boas said.
The structure is designed to reduce Natura’s dependence on virgin fossil-based plastic by increasing the share of recycled and renewable materials used in packaging.
ICMA published its nature-focused practitioner guide in June 2025 as complementary guidance for issuers seeking to incorporate nature-related objectives into sustainable bond structures.
UBS BB is an investment-banking joint venture created by UBS Group AG (NYSE: UBS; SIX: UBSG) and Banco do Brasil SA (B3: BBAS3). The venture began operations in 2020 after the two groups agreed to combine UBS’s international investment-banking platform with Banco do Brasil’s local presence.
“This Nature Bond issuance demonstrates how sustainability, operations and finance can converge in a single instrument,” said Frederic de Mariz, head of Sustainable Markets Advisory Americas at UBS BB. “By connecting its circularity commitment to an innovative structure, Natura consistently and pioneeringly reaffirms the alignment between its business strategy and its long-term regeneration vision.”
Sustainability-Linked Debt Strategy
Natura began issuing sustainability-linked debt in 2021, when it launched its first SLB linked in part to increasing the use of post-consumer recycled plastic in packaging.
The company had targeted a 25% PCR share by 2026 but reached 30% in 2025, achieving the goal ahead of schedule.
Natura has also issued debt linked to the use of Amazon bioingredients. With the latest transaction, the company said 65% of its issuances are now tied to social or environmental indicators, moving toward a stated goal of linking 100% of its financing to such metrics.
The company, founded in 1969, operates the Natura and Avon brands in Latin America and sells through a network of about 2.8 million beauty consultants, digital channels and more than 1,000 stores.
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