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Fifth Third Bancorp today announced that it has set a new sustainable finance goal of $8 billion to be achieved by 2025.
The bank’s sustainable finance goal includes lending commitments and financing for renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower). It also includes the financing of projects like the Bancroft Station Solar Farm in Early County, Georgia. Fifth Third financed the roughly $110 million construction-to-term facility for Nashville-based Silicon Ranch Corporation in 2019. The solar farm loads power onto the Georgia transmission grid and is supplying Facebook’s Newton Data Center with 100% renewable energy.
The current sustainable financing strategy and policy for lending excludes more speculative development financing, such as construction projects prior to being “shovel ready” or without a power purchase agreement, as well as projects with less certain off-taker contracts, including those that require taking merchant and/or wholesale energy price risk.
In 2018, Fifth Third announced that it had become the first Fortune 500 company and first bank to sign a power purchase agreement to achieve 100% renewable power through a single project. Fifth Third becomes also became the first publicly-traded company to commit to purchase 100% renewable energy through solar power alone.