Citi announced plans to take “responsibility” and get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The bank said it will “play a leading role in helping drive the transition to a net zero global economy and make good on the promise of the Paris Agreement.”
The bank’s plan, which is said to be published within the next year, will “include emissions reduction targets for carbon-intensive sectors that also have low-carbon transition opportunities, including interim emissions targets for 2030 for our Energy and Power portfolios.”
“From 2014 to 2019, we financed and facilitated $164 billion in low-carbon solutions and last year committed to completing an additional $250 billion in environmental transactions by 2025,” Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi, said. “We also reached our goal of purchasing 100% renewable electricity for our facilities. Now we are taking the next bold step on this journey. We are committing to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. I am proud to make this commitment on my first day as CEO of Citi.”
According to the Sierra Club, Citi was the world’s third largest bank to fund fossil fuels with more than $188 billion in investments between 2016 and 2019.
“It’s good to see Citi’s new CEO making big climate commitments on her first day, but today’s announcement is simply an IOU for the real plans and actions that will be needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” Ben Cushing, financial advocacy campaign manager at the Sierra Club, said. “Despite citing ‘an urgent need for collective action’ in response to the climate crisis, Citi does not provide specifics on how it will get to net zero or begin taking further action this year. It should not be a mystery to Citi or any major bank where to start right now: stop financing fossil fuel expansion. There’s no time left to waste.”
Citi’s announcement makes them the third major U.S. bank to commit to achieve net zero financed emissions by 2050. Citi now joins Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
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