South Korea’s top steelmaker Posco said on July 9 it has raised $500 million by selling so-called environment, social, governance bonds.

The ESG bond is a type of sustainability debt offering aimed to finance corporate activities in environmental, social responsibility and governance improvement.

Posco also said it is the world’s first steelmaker to sell such debt.

“Through this bond issuance, we will beef up our renewable energy business and material business for electric vehicle batteries,” Posco CEO Choi Jeong-woo said in a release. “We’ll also use the funds to support the growth of the steel industry and other environmental projects.”

The five-year debt carries an interest rate of 2.874 percent and will be listed on the Singapore Exchange.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)