Banking giant Bank of America recently announced that it would invest $1 trillion by 2030 towards its environmental business initiatives, striving to accelerate a push for green finance. This is one of the largest amounts pledged in the financial services industry towards green causes.
By making this announcement, it has more than tripled its earlier budget of $300 billion that it had announced in 2019. In total, the second largest bank in the United States has now committed an estimated $1.5 trillion towards green finance and social inclusion initiatives such as racial and gender equality, healthcare, affordable housing, and education.
These funds have been earmarked to push for green initiatives through lending, capital raising, advisory and investment services to help low-carbon and other sustainable businesses.
“The private sector is well-positioned to ensure that the capital needed – at the scale it is needed – can drive the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy,” said Bank of America Vice Chairman, Anne Finucane, who leads the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG), sustainable finance, and public policy efforts. “We will meet our commitment by working with clients to provide lending, capital raising, advisory and investment services, and to develop financial solutions and drive innovation to ensure the transition to a sustainable economy.”
Earlier in February, Bank of America also committed to reach its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions before 2050.
However, Bank of America is not the only financial services giant that has taken a step towards sustainability. In March, Mastercard Inc said that it would link the bonuses for its senior management to their performance of aiding the organization in achieving its green goals of cutting its carbon usage.
Similarly, Citigroup Inc also initiated a new investment banking unit to support efforts towards environmental sustainability.
Aren’t these some remarkable steps undertaken by these financial institutions? What do you think? Let us know your views in the comments section below.
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