Citigroup Committing $100 Billion To Fight Climate Change

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Megabank Citigroup has had a lot of bad PR in the last few years, most of it well-deserved. That said, it should be noted that the oft-crtiticized financial titan does give back to society in a number of ways – or at least is trying to improve its PR somehow.

Of note, Citigroup has been committed to the fight against climate change for quite a while now. Building on the $50 billion initiative the firm began in 2007 and finished in 2013 (three years early), a $100 billion commitment to fund activities that mitigate the impacts of climate change announced on Wednesday, February 18th continues to keep this important issue in the headlines.

More on the Citigroup $100 billion climate change initiative

The company’s statement notes it plans to finance renewable energy, energy efficiency and push for greenhouse gas reductions with the funds in its just announced program.

Citi is also focusing its efforts on projects to make communities more resilient to the impact of climate change as well as infrastructure improvements to increase access to clean water.

Statements

“Citi has demonstrated its deep commitment to not only taking environmental consequences into account, but also finding innovative ways to finance projects that lead to sustainable growth,” noted Citi CEO Michael Corbat.

“Today’s announcement from Citi will add further opportunities to help cities achieve their climate targets, and allow businesses to become more sustainable,” commented James Alexander, finance chief of C40, a global network of cities working toward greater sustainability.

Other financial firms commitments to fighting climate change

Bank of America announced a $50 billion decade-long initiative to provide loans for environmentally friendly energy projects in 2012.

Goldman Sachs also established a 10-year target of $40 billion for investments in renewable energy projects back in 2012.

Costs of climate change

The costs of climate change and related global warming are immense. If we act to stop global warming now, we can we begin to mitigate these rapidly escalating costs. If we wait, we are going to spend a whole lot more in just a few years  As reported by ValueWalk late last year, the costs of dealing with rising sea levels alone are expected to top $1 trillion by 2020 in a major U.S. port city such as Boston..

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