The bank is making what it calls “the largest commitment by a global financial institution” to facilitating clean energy financing.
That bank did about $15 billion in such deals in 2015, including green bonds, tax-equity financings, project financing and even IPOs; the new pledge would boost that to about $22 billion a year.
That’s a far cry from the “clean trillion” in investment (from about $300 billion now) needed to meet the carbon-reduction goals of the Paris climate agreement. (Listen to ImpactAlpha’spodcast “Why is cleantech still a dirty word for investors?”).
The bank also committed to power its own operations with 100% renewable energy by 2020. That includes direct purchasing agreements with renewable energy providers to power its 75 million-square-foot property portfolio. Excess power purchased will be sold on to other companies, with J.P. Morgan’s commodities group acting as an intermediary.
Goldman Sachs announced a similar strategy last month when it cut a power purchasing agreement with a wind farm in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
