OREANDA-NEWS. To further expand how Bank of America is creating long-term value across Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors, today the company shares progress made to deliver on its purpose of helping make financial lives better for customers, clients and communities around the world. The Business Standards Report, first published earlier this year, plus the ESG Addendum, together detail how the company is delivering responsible, sustainable growth – making the business more efficient, helping employees realize their potential and helping local communities around the world address their biggest challenges.

“Our approach to ESG is about ensuring we are growing responsibly and making money the right way while creating shared success by investing those profits in the things that will collectively move us forward,” said Anne Finucane, vice chairman at Bank of America.

Highlights include:

Building thriving and sustainable economies:

  • Increased the company’s environmental business initiative from $50 billion to $125 billion by 2025. This commitment is helping address climate change and other demands on natural resources through lending, investing, capital raising, advisory services and developing financing solutions for clients around the world. In 2015 alone, the company provided $14.5 billion financing for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainable projects.
  • More than $1 billion invested in community development financial institutions (CDFIs) across the U.S., including extending more than $235 million in loans in 2015 to support affordable housing, small business and economic development.
  • Provided financing for high-impact new energy projects through its Catalytic Finance Initiative. As an example, Bank of America acted as co-arranger of €978 million project bonds to refinance Meerwind, a fully operational 288-MW German offshore wind farm located in the North Sea. The refinancing represents the largest-ever renewable energy project bond and attracted a wide set of investors in both the U.S. and EMEA.
  • Helped to create 14,400 housing units, including 13,400 units of affordable housing, for individuals, families, veterans, seniors, and the previously homeless through its Community Development Banking group.

Valuing our employees:

  • Continued to develop its diverse workforce (52 percent of whom are women globally and 44 percent of whom are diverse races and ethnic backgrounds in the U.S.) through its 12 Employee Networks and Diversity and Inclusion Business Councils.
  • Expanded parental leave benefits for U.S. employees to include up to 16 weeks of paid time off for adoption, maternity, and paternity leave.
  • Supported employee health offerings by expanding Get Active! to include all global employees. The voluntary team-based activity program, which launched in the U.S. in 2013, fosters teamwork and encourages better health habits and spirited competition. In 2015, 80,000 employees enrolled in this challenge, forming more than 12,000 teams.

Enabling personal financial health and growth:

  • Extended nearly $10.7 billion in new credit to small business owners, resulting in total small business lending of nearly $25.2 billion.
  • Added new content to our financial education resource BetterMoneyHabits.com to provide new tools for families with children, individuals living paycheck-to-paycheck, and service members who are making the transition from military to civilian life.

The Business Standards Report and ESG Addendum follow the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 framework and GRI’s Financial Services Sector Supplement, the industry standard by which ESG efforts are evaluated and measured. This report is in accordance with the core option and has gone through the GRI Materiality Disclosure Service to confirm that G4 Materiality Disclosures are correctly located in both the Content Index and in the text of the final report.