Frontline Colleagues to Engage Clients on
Transition To Lower-Carbon Economy
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG or “Citizens”) today
announced a $50 billion Sustainable Finance Target including $5
billion in green financing, by 2030. The company also announced
that it will engage corporate clients in high-emitting sectors on
climate-related topics. To start, it will engage 100% of its Oil
& Gas clients by the end of 2024. In addition, Citizens has
committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.
“Our approach to sustainability is grounded in the Citizens
Credo, uniting our values and purpose while creating opportunity to
use our reach, innovation, and insights to position those we serve
for long-term success," said Bruce Van Saun, Citizens Chairman and
CEO. “This includes working to ensure that our colleagues are ready
to help our clients prepare for and finance their own transitions
to a lower-carbon economy.”
Supporting Sustainable
Solutions
To contribute to a more sustainable future, Citizens’ Target
will finance and facilitate environmental and social initiatives.
This includes affordable housing, support for small businesses, and
community development projects. It also encompasses $5 billion in
financing and facilitation for green initiatives that support a
lower-carbon future such as renewable energy, clean technologies,
and green buildings. Citizens recently published its Approach to
Sustainable Finance which outlines its methodology for tracking
progress against its Sustainable Finance Target.
Helping Clients Transition to a
Sustainable Future
As a trusted advisor for its clients, Citizens is committed to
supporting clients wherever they are on their sustainability
journeys and will ensure that 100% of its Commercial and Business
Banking colleagues are prepared to engage with clients on
climate-related topics. This will help them leverage the
opportunities, meet stakeholder expectations, and manage risk. The
bank’s culture of innovation is driving new solutions toward
sustainability-linked products for clients. For example, the
Citizens’ Sustainable Deposits and Carbon Offset Deposit Account
products allow clients to incorporate their sustainability goals
into their banking strategies.
Citizens, which recently accelerated its private banking
strategy driving growth in the wealth management space, will also
continue to ensure colleagues are versed in ESG-integrated,
ESG-focused, and impact-focused investment products.
“In developing this commitment, we took a methodical, customer
and client-centered approach, that includes detailed disclosures
and reporting to ensure overall success,” said Beth Johnson,
Citizens Vice Chair, Chief Experience Officer, and Head of ESG.
“Through our efforts we will continue to maximize impact for our
colleagues, clients, customers, and other stakeholders.”
Minimizing Citizens’ Environmental
Impact
Citizens continues to make progress on its operational
sustainability efforts and today, announces its intention to be
carbon neutral by 2035. Citizens set Scope 1 and 2 emissions
targets in 2021 that will be achieved through ongoing energy
conservation investments and energy reduction initiatives across
the company’s footprint. By 2035, Citizens is targeting to offset
the remaining Scope 1 and 2 emissions through high-quality offsets
and renewable energy credits. Last year, Citizens entered into a
virtual power purchase agreement with Ørsted that supports the
construction of a wind generation facility in Kansas, demonstrating
Citizens’ commitment to renewable energy as a key part of its
transition to a lower-carbon economy.
Citizens is committed to providing disclosures related to its
progress, and recently released its ESG Report, TCFD Report, CDP
Climate Response and an Environmental & Social Risk Management
Statement.
For more information on the bank’s overall ESG efforts, click
here.
About Citizens Financial Group,
Inc.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and
largest financial institutions, with $223.1 billion in assets as of
June 30, 2023. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens
offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and
services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies,
large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers
reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding
their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions.
In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience
that includes mobile and online banking, a full-service customer
contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,400 ATMs and
approximately 1,100 branches in 14 states and the District of
Columbia. Consumer Banking products and services include a full
range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small
business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad
complement of financial products and solutions, including lending
and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign
exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as
well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and
acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. More
information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on
Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.
Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Any statement that does not describe historical or current facts is
a forward-looking statement. These statements often include the
words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,”
“plans,” “goals,” “targets,” “initiatives,” “potentially,”
“probably,” “projects,” “outlook,” “guidance” or similar
expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “may,” “will,”
“should,” “would,” and “could.” Forward-looking statements are
based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management, and
on information currently available to management. Our statements
speak as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to
update these statements or to update the reasons why actual results
could differ from those contained in such statements in light of
new information or future events. We caution you, therefore,
against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. They
are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or
assurances of future performance. More information about factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
described in the forward-looking statements can be found under
“Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2022.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230919113819/en/
Media: Citizens Rory Sheehan (508) 284-6405
Rory.p.sheehan@citizensbank.com
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