21st July 2021 – Citizens today launched its Green Deposits program to allow corporate clients to direct their cash reserves toward companies and projects that are expected to create a positive environmental impact.
The Green Deposits solution gives clients the opportunity to direct deposits to investments in sectors such as energy efficiency; renewable energy; green transport; sustainable food, agriculture, and forestry; waste management; and greenhouse gas reduction.
“Recognizing the increasing desire among clients for socially responsible investing options, our new Green Deposits solution gives clients a sustainable investment vehicle that aligns with Citizens’ own commitment to help create a healthy and sustainable future for all of our stakeholders,” said Michael Cummins, executive vice president and head of treasury solutions at Citizens. “As a financial institution, Citizens recognizes the critical role that the bank can play to help finance a socially responsible future and continues to explore opportunities to support sustainable development.”
Citizens developed its Green Deposits Framework to identify eligible activities within the bank’s portfolio and ensure alignment with best practices and standards. The framework was created in line with eligibility criteria developed with the support of Sustainalytics, a Morningstar company, and leading provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and data.
Citizens is committed to reducing its own operational impact on the environment, understanding and managing the risks and opportunities presented by climate change and resulting regulatory and market changes, and helping our customers plan for and manage climate change impact. To support the renewable energy industry, Citizens provides equity investments through Citizens Asset Finance and has participated in the funding of eight U.S. wind farm projects since mid-2015, with investments totaling approximately $403 million at the end of 2020.
Citizens has also adopted targets to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2035, based on its 2016 baseline, to support international goals to limit global temperature rise. These targets align with the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit average global temperature increase to well-below 2° Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
Citizens recently released its 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report, Building Tomorrow Together, highlighting enterprise-wide initiatives that advance its commitment to responsible citizenship. The full report is available at: www.citizensbank.com/corporateresponsibility.
