SMTO Biomethane (IFC-48333)

Countries
  • Brazil
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
City of São Martinho, City of Iracema, City of Santa Cruz and City of Boa Vista
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
SAO MARTINHO S/A.
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Energy
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 165.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 165.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Aug 7, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Aug 2, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

The proposed IFC investment is a senior loan of up to US$165 million to São Martinho S.A. (“SMTO” or the “Company”), a Brazilian sugar and ethanol company (https://www.saomartinho.com.br/), operating three sugar mills in the state of São Paulo (São Martinho, Iracema, and Santa Cruz mills) which are producing sugar, ethanol, bioenergy, and by-products, and one mill in the state of Goias (Boa Vista mill) producing ethanol and bioenergy. IFC's use of proceeds will support the (i) construction of a biomethane plant, (ii) renewal of sugarcane plantation at Santa Cruz mill, and (iii) crop treatment related to biomethane (the “Project”). The biomethane plant will be located at the Santa Cruz mill and has already secured the environmental permit (Installation License – LI) in September 2023. The construction of the plant has not started yet. This proposed investment will support SMTO to produce renewable energy, which can be converted into ethanol and substitute diesel. This would be IFC’s third investment in SMTO since 2017. Previous investments are available at https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/43319/sao-martinho-cogen and https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/37809/sao-martinho-i. The E&S performance of SMTO’s projects in portfolio has been satisfactory.  SMTO manages 350,000 hectares (ha) of sugarcane production, of which 70% (~250,000 ha) is owned or under lease and partnerships. The remaining 30% (~100,000 ha) belongs to contract growers. Specifically, the sugarcane plantation for the Santa Cruz mill comprises ~35,000 ha, and its processing capacity is currently 5.6 million metric tons of sugarcane. More than 90% of Santa Cruz's planted area is owned by SMTO.                                                   

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

IFC

 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries.

 

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly,  you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC’s Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC’s Executive Vice President.

 

 

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org.  You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

How it works

How it works