The world's leading financial institution, Citigroup (C – $53.20), announced that it is going to direct $50 billion over the next 10 years to address global warming issues.
In a Citigroup press release on May 8th, the global bank announced a number of environmental measures it is planning. Initiatives are both corporation-wide (like its $10 billion commitment to reduce its corporate environmental footprint, as part of a pledge to reduce GHG emissions by 10% by 2011) and customer-centered (like its paperless statements and tree planted for every client that takes advantage of it). To soften its landing onto the green bandwagon, Citi points out that it "has long been active in environmental issues," as evidenced in its involvement in the Equator Principles (circa 2003).
Judging by the self-congratulatory tone of the press release, even while bearing in mind that this is the point of a press release, Citi could not be more pleased with itself.
San Francisco based Rainforest Action Network (RAN), not surprisingly, is irritated by all of this. RAN's focus is on the new coal-fired plants, which apparently emit more greenhouse gases than any other electricity source, and whichCiti has been funding more aggressively than any other banking institution. They see this $50 billion pledge as a drop in the climate change bucket and an obvious ploy for a greener reputation. “The bulk of a bank’s impact on climate is through its investments, so for Citi to become credible on climate change, they need to do more than just fund clean energy, they also need to stop financing dirty energy,” says Rebecca Tarbotton, RAN’s Global Finance campaign director.
It is difficult to gage how much credit Citi should get for making any attempt to combat global warming. Presumably the corporation could neglect the cause altogether, but then Citi wouldn't be able to put nature pictures on its website and RAN would have nothing to write about.