Citigroup (C:US) has published its annual environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report, revealing that it facilitated USD123.5bn in sustainable finance in 2022, which is a 24% YoY decrease due to the global economic downturn, as reported by ESG Today on April 25. However, from 2020 to 2022, the company financed and facilitated a total of USD348.5bn in sustainable finance activities globally, which means it is well on track to achieve its USD1tr sustainable finance goal by 2030. Earlier this month, JP Morgan announced that it had financed and facilitated USD197bn in supporting sustainable finance activities last year, which was a 30% decrease from the record USD285bn in 2021.

Citi’s USD1tr sustainable finance goal includes USD500bn in environmental finance by 2030, and USD500bn for other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) areas such as education, affordable housing, healthcare, economic inclusion, racial and ethnic diversity, and gender equality. For instance, it provided around USD6bn in loans for affordable housing projects in 2022, and from 2020 to 2022, it spent USD1.1bn to help bridge the racial wealth gap and increase economic mobility in the US. Citi’s retreat in sustainable finance can be attributed mainly to the reduction in environmental-related finance, which decreased by USD37bn to 86.7bn in 2022. Within the environmental category, financings for sustainable transportation and renewable energy decreased by USD18bn and USD2.3bn in 2022, respectively. Meanwhile, funding for clean technologies increased to USD2.5bn from USD0.6bn in 2020 and 2021 combined.

S****ources:

https://www.esgtoday.com/citi-facilitates-more-than-120-billion-sustainable-finance-in-2022/

https://www.esgtoday.com/jpmorgan-facilitates-nearly-200-billion-sustainable-finance-in-2022/

https://www.citigroup.com/global/news/press-release/2023/citi-releases-annual-environmental-social-and-governance-esg-report-for-2022