Wells Fargo to Offer $200 Billion in Green Financing

Wells Fargo is walking the walk. The San Francisco-based financial services firm announced last week that it will invest $200 billion in sustainability and climate initiatives by 2030. It's an enormous and highly significant statement of support for environmental causes, sure to inspire other financiers to trod the same green path.

The banking giant, whose assets total $1.9 trillion, detailed that 50 percent of its involvement will go into renewable energy, sustainable transport, clean tech and green bonds. The remainder will assist companies and projects in conservation, sustainable agriculture, recycling and more.

“Wells Fargo is committed to taking a leadership role in supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy and promoting environmental sustainability through our products and services, operations and culture, and philanthropy,” said CEO Tim Sloan.

The company is building on a distinguished history of environmental activism. In 2012, it committed to investing $30 billion to support a “greener economy” by 2020 – then met this goal five years ahead of schedule.

In 2016, projects owned partly or entirely by Wells Fargo produced over nine percent of all wind and solar photovoltaic energy generated in the United States. One year later, the company invested another $12 billion in sustainable businesses. That same year, the firm began a program to meet 100 percent of its global electricity needs with renewable energy.

"We take an ecosystem approach to supporting clean technology," said Mary Wenzel, Wells Fargo's chief of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs. "We work to advance new technologies by providing financing and other services, testing, and adopting new technologies within our footprint and providing philanthropic support to leading accelerators, incubators, and universities focused on clean technology development and entrepreneurship."

We vigorously applaud the leadership and efforts of Wells Fargo, and hope you'll bear the company in mind. The green economy has a foresightful new champion.

--By R.H. Miller