New Delhi (NVI): Bank of America has planned to achieve its goal of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its financing activities, operations and supply chain before 2050.
According to an official release, this will build on Bank of America’s long-standing support for the Paris Climate Agreement.
The banking giant continues to actively engage with its clients to help accelerate their own transitions to net zero and it plans to establish interim science based emissions targets for high-emitting portfolios, including energy and power, the release added.
In addition to this, Bank of America released its broader 2030 operational and supply chain goals as part of a holistic commitment to environmental sustainability.
Earlier in July 2020, Bank of America joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) as a member of the Global Core Team, as part of its transition to net zero emissions.
“It is critical that we leverage all parts of our business – beyond our direct operations – in order to accelerate the transition to a net zero global economy,” said Bank of America Vice Chairman, Anne Finucane.
“We recognize that this will be no easy task, but we believe our commitment will help spur the growth of zero carbon energy and power solutions, sustainable transportation and agriculture, and other sector transformations, while generating more climate resilient and equitable opportunities for our future,” she was quoted as saying in a release.
Moreover, the bank in collaboration with 15 other financial institutions also participated in the development of the global GHG accounting and reporting standard for the financial industry, providing a consistent methodology to assess and disclose emissions associated with financing activities.
This collaboration builds the bank’s ongoing, recent efforts with partners to address the financing, technology, policy and other challenges inherent in the transition to a net zero global economy.
Furthermore, CEO Brian Moynihan serves as co-chair of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’ Sustainable Markets Initiative. Nearly 70 global companies have committed to the metrics, which include recommendations of the task force on Climate-related financial disclosures, as well as alignment with net zero emissions before 2050, as per the release.
The bank is also a founding partner of RMI’s Center for Climate Aligned Finance, and members of 1t.org US Stakeholder Council and Energy Transitions Commission.
It routinely engages members of its National Community Advisory Council – including Ceres, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), Clean Air Task Force, World Resources Institute, and US Green Building Council – and other stakeholders, to provide valuable perspective and guidance in shaping its net zero strategy and planning.
Ceres CEO Mindy Lubber also said that, “By outlining the steps Bank of America is taking to achieve net zero emissions, the company is accelerating the ambitions laid forth in the Paris Climate Agreement.”
“We appreciate Bank of America’s commitment to set ambitious 2030 targets and look forward to more details in the future, including how it will work with clients to deliver on its commitment, Lubber added in a release.
The bank also informed that it has achieved carbon neutrality in its operations in 2019, a year ahead of schedule, which increased the number of vendors that measure and publicly report GHG emissions through the CDP supply chain survey, the release said.
“Bank of America has now established the next set of targets for its operations and supply chain to be achieved by 2030,” it added.
These targets include maintaining carbon neutrality for operations, purchasing 100 per cent zero carbon electricity and reduce location-based GHG emissions by 75 per cent. Also, reduce energy, potable water use by 55 per cent, manage facilities responsibly and achieve LEED certification (or comparable) for 40 per cent of building space.
Apart from this, responsibly manage waste to reduce amount sent to landfill and ensure 70 per cent of global vendors, by spend, set GHG emissions reduction or renewable energy targets, the release added.
-RJV
