Citi Earmarks $250 Billion to Finance and Facilitate Climate Solutions

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Citi today announced its new five-year 2025 Sustainable Progress Strategy to help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. This new strategy includes a $250 billion “Environmental Finance Goal” to finance and facilitate climate solutions globally. This builds on Citi’s previous $100 billion goal announced in 2015 and completed last year, more than four years ahead of schedule.

This new strategy, integrated into Citi’s Environmental and Social Policy Framework, will focus on three key areas over the next five years:

• Low-Carbon Transition: Citi aims to finance and facilitate an additional $250 billion in low-carbon solutions, in addition to the $164 billion the bank counted toward its $100 billion Environmental Finance Goal (2014-2019). This new goal includes financing and facilitating activities in renewable energy, clean technology, water quality and conservation, sustainable transportation, green buildings, energy efficiency, circular economy, and sustainable agriculture and land use. Citi said it will continue to develop financing structures and seek opportunities to scale positive impact in these areas while supporting clients across all sectors in the low-carbon transition.
• Climate Risk: Measuring, managing, and reducing the climate risk and impact of Citi’s client portfolio is a key aspect of a low-carbon transition. Citi has been a leader in climate assessment and disclosure in alignment with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, releasing its first TCFD report in 2018. Citi said it will further test the resilience of its lending portfolios to transition risks related to climate change, and continue to disclose in line with TCFD. The bank will begin measuring the climate impact of its own portfolios and their potential alignment with 1.5 and 2 degree Celsius warming scenarios. Citi is also joining the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), a global framework for financial institutions to measure and disclose the emissions of lending portfolios and create a global carbon accounting standard for financial institutions. These various efforts will inform how Citi analyzes, engages, and collaborates with our clients going forward.
• Sustainable Operations: This strategy includes fourth generation operational footprint goals focused on GHG emissions, energy, water, waste reduction, and sustainable building solutions. Since 2005 Citi has reduced 3,600 GWh of energy use and avoided 2.4 million MTCO2e. While climate science requires global CO2 emissions to be reduced by 45% by 2030, Citi is accelerating that timeline with a 45% reduction target in CO2 emissions by 2025. Citi expects to meet its goal of sourcing 100% renewable electricity to power facilities globally before the end of 2020. In April, Citi was awarded LEED Platinum certification for its global headquarters in New York, which represents a milestone in its sustainable operations.

Citi has was the first major US-based signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking. Additionally, in May, Citi announced the issuance of the firm’s first USD-denominated benchmark green bond. This bond follows Citi’s inaugural Euro-denominated green bond benchmark issued in January 2019. Citi says that an amount equal to the net proceeds of this green bond will fund renewable energy, sustainable transportation, water quality, and conservation, energy efficiency, and green building projects as outlined in Citi’s Green Bond Framework.