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Citizens has long supported its communities by financially empowering its neighbors, fostering strong communities, and working to address opportunity gaps through homeownership, small business support and community development. Over the past two years, however, Citizens has undergone a significant transformation in its approach to sustainability.
Believing banks have a role to play in supporting the energy transition, our Sustainability Campaign encompassed a major public announcement in late 2023 around several visible commitments. To credibly deliver on our strategy, our public “Sustainability Announcement”, included several areas of distinction: 1) a $50B sustainable finance target; 2) a commitment to engage with clients– specifically those in the highest-emitting sectors; and 3) a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2035.
Through our $50B sustainable finance target, we will finance and/or facilitate environmental and/or social activities through 2030. To reinforce our commitment to green initiatives and evolving technologies, we included a $5B green sub-target. As we developed our Target, we balanced the ambition and stakeholder demand, ensuring we could make a credible and tangible impact. Our target is in the top third of our peer set, relative to the amount.
As a trusted advisor, Citizens is committed to supporting clients wherever they are on their sustainability journeys and we have advanced our work in this area over the past two years. As part of our Announcement, Citizens pledged to 1) ensure that 100% of its Commercial and Business Banking colleagues are prepared to engage on climate topics by YE 2024; and 2) engage with 100% of our Oil & Gas clients by YE 2024. These actions will help clients leverage opportunities, meet stakeholder expectations, and manage risk. We are among the first of our peers to establish public targets for engagement and training.
Additionally in 2022, we expanded our Sustainable Deposit product, as well as introduced a Carbon Offset Account product. Our Sustainable Deposit product was built to give clients the opportunity to direct deposits to environment focused projects. Recognizing the desire from clients for broad socially responsible investing options, we expanded the opportunity to include a variety of environmental and social criteria. Both products help clients meet their sustainability goals and drive revenue for our business.
As a final component to our announcement, we shared our intention to be carbon neutral by 2035. To be credible in driving climate impact, we know efforts start within our own operations. After setting emissions targets in 2021, we have maintained energy conservation investments and reduction initiatives across our footprint. In 2022 we entered into a virtual power purchase agreement with Ørsted which supported the construction of a wind generation facility, demonstrating our commitment to renewable energy as a key part of the energy transition. The VPPA was a significant step forward in our operational sustainability programming, allowing Citizens to match 100% of our expected power consumption with renewable energy credits. The project - which went online in late 2023 - brings renewable electricity to the local grid, and is introducing new revenue and jobs into the community. Citizens was one of the first financial institutions to enter into a long-term agreement of this kind, bringing its credibility and impact to a new level. What we don’t reduce through the VPPA, we will offset through high-quality offsets and RECs in 2035.
Citizens took an industry best practice approach to transparency around these commitments which were accompanied by several key disclosures and reports. In addition to our CDP disclosure and ESG and Climate Reports, we published our Approach to Sustainable Finance and an Environmental & Social Risk Management Statement. [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] Citizens ensured that our approach included these tangible disclosures as evidence of our commitment to authenticity, accountability, and transparency.
We will share progress in our ESG Report and keep ourselves accountable to our colleagues, shareholders, customers, clients and broad communities.
Nomination Title: Citizens Sustainability Announcement
