Bank Of America Sustainable Investing

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#WEF2020: Promoting sustainable investing

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The Chief Investment Office provides thought leadership on wealth management, investment strategy and global markets portfolio management solutions due diligence and solutions oversight and data analytics. CIO viewpoints are developed for Bank of America Private Bank, a division of Bank of America, N.A., and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated , a registered broker-dealer, registered investment adviser and a

wholly owned subsidiary of BofA Corp. This information should not be construed as investment advice and is subject to change. It is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to be either a specific offer by Bank of America, Merrill or any affiliate to sell or provide, or a specific invitation for a consumer to apply for, any particular retail financial product or service that may be available.

Private Wealth Advisors are offered by licensed banks and trust companies, including Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC, and other affiliated banks.

Environmentally Friendly Banking Options

There are several certifications or characteristics to look for when evaluating whether a bank aligns with your environmental values.

B-Corp Banks: Certified B-Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B-Corp banks are one option for people interested in a bank that aims to use its money and power as a force for good.

Global Alliance for Banking on Values Members: The GABV is a network of financial institutions that use finance to deliver sustainable economic, social, and environmental development. Banks and credit unions in the GABV take a triple-bottom-line approach and serve as values-based banking options. Browse all B-Corp or GABV banks. Browse all GABV credit unions.

Environmentally focused neobanks, like Aspiration, ATMOS, and Ando: There are several new digital-only banking providers that partner with community banks to offer services. See our guide to evaluating cause-driven neobanks to learn more about the impact of money held with these banking providers.

What Is Blended Finance And Why It Matters

The world must work together to fight hunger and inequality, provide greater access to healthcare and education, and advance environmental sustainability, among other global challenges.

But it wont be easy or inexpensive.

The United Nations estimates the cost of solving these problems at $6 trillion a year. Government aid and philanthropy, while critical arent enough.

Every year funding falls short by about $2.6 trillion, according to the U.N.

Fortunately, the money does exist. Pension funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, wealth managers and others represent trillions of dollars in potential investments.

To put that money to work on societys toughest challenges, a blended finance approach is needed.

This type of financing brings together philanthropy, government funding and private sector investors with different risk appetites.

For example those willing to take more risk can act as a capital cushion for investors who need to take less risk, but who are interested in financing critical social needs such as clean water and sanitation, affordable housing or renewable energy projects.

Recognizing that high-risk capital is essential in getting such projects off the ground, Bank of America launched a blended finance catalyst pool that will deploy $60 million at a higher risk threshold than typical or business as usual risk thresholds.

What would you like the power to do? ®

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Learn more: bankofamerica.com/ResponsibleGrowth

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Bank Of America To Deploy $1 Trillion For Sustainable Finance By 2030

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– Bank of America said on Thursday it will deploy $1 trillion for its environmental business initiative to push for green finance by 2030, expanding on the $300 billion it had announced for the same project in 2019. The second largest U.S. bank said the latest announcement puts its total commitment to sustainable finance by 2030 at $1.5 trillion.

The initiative will help the banks push for a greener economy through lending, capital raising, advisory and investment services to help low-carbon and other sustainable businesses, Bank of America said.

In February, Bank of America said here it would target net-zero greenhouse gas emissions before 2050.

The announcement was in line with steps taken by other top-tier financial institutions to improve their performance on environmental, social and governance issues. Interest in these issues has surged as investors assess how economies should look in the future.

Last month, Mastercard Inc said it would link bonuses for its senior executives to their performance in helping the company achieve its goals of cutting its carbon usage, improve financial inclusion and gender pay parity.

Citigroup Inc has also launched a new investment banking unit to support efforts towards environmental sustainability.

Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru Editing by Shinjini Ganguli

Bank Of America Sets $15 Trillion Sustainable Finance Goal

Sustainable Investing Will Change the World

Posted by | Apr 8, 2021 | Companies, Investors, Sustainable Finance | 0 |

Bank of America announced today a major increase in its sustainable finance targets, aiming to achieve $1.5 trillion in sustainable finance mobilization and deployment by 2030, including a new goal of $1 trillion in its Environmental Business Initiative aimed at accelerating the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy.

Bank of America Vice Chairman, Anne Finucane, who leads the companys ESG, sustainable finance, and public policy efforts, said:

The private sector is well-positioned to ensure that the capital needed at the scale it is needed can drive the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy. We will meet our commitment by working with clients to provide lending, capital raising, advisory and investment services, and to develop financial solutions and drive innovation to ensure the transition to a sustainable economy.

BofAs Environmental Business Initiative seeks to deploy capital to low-carbon, sustainable business activities, advancing an environmental transition across sectors including solutions in energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable transportation, resource efficiency, sustainable water and agriculture as well as improved forestry and pollution control measures.

Chief Operating Officer Tom Montag, who co-chairs Bank of Americas Sustainable Markets Committee with Finucane, said:

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Bank Of America Invests $300 Billion In Low

Bank of America is committing $300 billion to low-carbon business activities by 2030 through its Environmental Business Unit. The bank aims to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy through lending, investing, capital raising, advisory services, and developing financing solutions.

This represents the banks third Environmental Business Unit commitment. The first was issued in 2007. A second in 2013 called for deploying $125 billion by 2025, but Bank of America says they are on track to get there by the end of this year. Over the past 12 years, the bank has mobilized more than $126 billion.

This enterprise-wide initiative is designed to unlock the necessary financing and investment to address the broad themes outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the bank said. Bank of America reported deploying more than $50 billion in 2018 to help a key subset of the SDGs.

According to Bank of America, examples of how the financial institution supports clients through environmental business include:

Sustainable investing has been increasing in the United States. In February, a survey from the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing and Bloomberg found that three-quarters of US asset managers say their firms now offer sustainable investing strategies, up from 65% in 2016. Last year a report from the US SIF Foundation concluded that American investors consider ESG factors across $12 trillion of professionally managed assets.

The Power To Drive Change

Take, for example, the WaterEquity fund, which brings together government agencies like the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, foundations, financial institutions and accredited investors to provide funding for clean water and sanitation efforts in the developing world. As part of that effort, Bank of America provided $5 million of interest-free capital as the first money into a fund that ultimately attracted $45 million in additional private capital for water and sanitation projects in South and Southeast Asia. Safe water and sanitation, beyond their humanitarian implications, will boost the global economy by creating healthier and more productive citizens and businesses. Together with other financial services companies, development organizations and non-profits, we can use blended finance to support such projects as affordable housing, clean water and gender equalitychallenges too big for anyone to solve on their own, notes Anne Finucane, Vice Chairman Bank of America.

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Sustainable Banks In The Us: What They Are And A List Of Eco

Mighty Deposits Guide, 2021 Edition

For environmentally-conscious consumers, being intentional about where you keep your savings can be a great way to take further control over your environmental impact. If youre committed to reducing your carbon footprint perhaps spending time recycling, protesting, and purchasing eco-friendly products then its essential to ensure your own money in the bank isnt undermining your other efforts.

How Us Banks Are Stepping Up Their Esg Activities

Nuveen, Bank of America, GIIN Execs on Impact Investing

JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America are among the banks to announce ESG initiatives in recent days

  • 04/14/2021 – 16:10
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Environmental, social, and governance issues are front and centre for the US biggest banks, as shown by a wave of announcements in recent days.

JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Fifth Third have all unveiled measures to enhance their commitment to ESG themes.

JPMorgan Chases commercial banking arm has set up a new Green Economy specialized industry team, which will provide dedicated banking services and expertise to companies that produce environmentally-friendly goods and services or focus on environmental conservation.

It has named Brian Lehman as the teams head. Lehman, who will build a dedicated team of bankers to serve the segment, has more than 20 years of client-facing experience and deep knowledge of sustainable finance, the bank said.

The path to a more sustainable future heavily depends on our actions today, said Lehman. At JPMorgan Chase, weve seen a growing number of clients and industries whose foundations are built upon reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The facility will be developed, owned, and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra, and is scheduled to come online in 2022.

Elsewhere, Bank of America announced a goal of deploying and mobilizing $1 trillion by 2030 through its Environmental Business Initiative in order to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy.

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The Investment Needed To Solve Global Challenges

What will it take to create a more sustainable world?

Six trillion dollars per year over the next decade, according to the United Nations footnote1.

It will also take a concentrated effort across every constituency to lift 800 million people out of poverty and provide 1.8 billion people access to sanitation, among other challenges. To help frame the challenge and organize the response, the United Nations has identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their estimated cost. The SDGs are a roadmap of sorts, providing direction on what the biggest issues facing society are, and what is needed to solve them.

More than half of the funding needed is already flowing from governments and philanthropic organizations toward projects identified by the SDGs. But, theres still roughly a $2.5 trillion gap. The reality, according to Alicia Seiger, managing director of the Stanford University Sustainable Finance Initiative, is, Global-scale challenges require investment that exceeds public coffers.

Goals At A Global Scale

As promising as such projects are, they represent just the start of blended finances potential to unlock trillions of dollars to address a wide range of issues, such as those outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals .

The 17 goals run the gamut from access to clean energy to better working conditions, to expanding educational opportunities. In supporting those goals, the World Bank Group is promoting a variety of innovative, public-private financing approaches structured so that private investors may choose among various levels of risk and potential reward.

When the World Bank Group, other development banks and global financial institutions such as Bank of America use their resources not just to make direct loans and other financing structures for development, but to help reduce risks for private investorsthats when capital can start building to a scale equal to the worlds challenges.

Brian Moynihan, CEO, Bank of America

A single project can benefit from the combining of different investor risk tolerances and expected rates of return, Moynihan says. Thats what blended finance is about. Theres the potential to mobilize vast amounts of capital without sacrificing private capital returns.

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Disclaimer For Latin America:

Bank of America and BofA Securities are the marketing names used by the Global Banking and Global Markets divisions of Bank of America Corporation. Lending, other commercial banking activities, and trading in certain financial instruments are performed globally by banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation, including Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC. Trading in securities and financial instruments, and strategic advisory and other investment banking activities, are performed globally by investment banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation , including, in the United States, BofA Securities, Inc. and Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., both of which are registered broker-dealers and Members of SIPC, and, in other jurisdictions, by locally registered entities. BofA Securities, Inc. and Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. are registered as futures commission merchants with the CFTC and are members of the NFA.

Investment products offered by Investment Banking Affiliates:Are Not FDIC Insured * May Lose Value * Are Not Bank Guaranteed

Bank of America Corporation and its affiliates do not perform in any jurisdiction banking activities that are reserved by local law to licensed banks, except in those jurisdictions where its banking affiliates have procured the necessary licenses.

Bank of America México, S.A., Institución de Banca Múltiple is a banking affiliate in Mexico of Bank of America Corporation.

Inside The Banking Sector Change Takes Time

Bank of America Investing in Further Water

Even though plenty of financial institutions agree that its time to tackle the climate crisis, it isnt easy implementing change at large financial institutions that have spent decades establishing rules of order, said Michael Eckhart, former global head of environmental finance for Citigroup and currently an adjunct professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University.

The greatest challenge to addressing climate change is institutional inertia that can take 25 years to change, Eckhart said. You can’t just order somebody to consider environment, social, and governance and expect them to carry it out perfectly every time.

If we’re not moving capital for sustainable purposes, we’re not going to have a sustainable society.

Michael Eckhart

Responding to a question from the audience on how banks might go beyond promoting sustainable new investment to stop the bad investments, Eckhart wondered whether all bonds should be required to disclose how funds will be used, not just green bonds.

Why aren’t we going after the flow of capital into things or purposes that are causing climate change? he said. We’re still funding the climate change-causing activities of industry, transportation, agriculture, and so forth. If we’re not moving capital for sustainable purposes, we’re not going to have a sustainable society.

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For Residents Of France:

The Sites do not constitute a solicitation to enter into a transaction involving financial instruments, is not being distributed in the context of a public offer in France within the meaning of Article L. 4111 of the Monetary and Financial Code, and has thus not been submitted to the COB for prior approval and clearance procedure. Any offers, sales or distribution of financial instruments through the Sites shall only be made in France to qualified investors as defined in and in accordance with Article L. 411-2 of the Monetary and Financial Code and d?cret no. 98880 dated 1st October, 1998. The contents of the Sites may not be redistributed or reproduced by any User. The Sites are made available with the understanding that Users will make investment decisions for their own account with the conditions set out in d?cret no. 98880 dated 1st October, 1998. By using the Sites, Users undertake not to transfer, directly or indirectly, any financial instrument acquired through the Sites to the public in France, other than in compliance with applicable laws and regulation. Services hereunder may be provided by Banc of America Securities, Limited, as agent or otherwise.

What Are We Doing As A Company

As one of the worldâs largest financial institutions, we take a key role in building a more resilient future. Through our strategy of responsible growth, we are deploying capital towards a more sustainable economyâhelping to create jobs, develop communities, foster economic mobility, and address societyâs biggest challenges around the world.

Learn more about what weâre doing to foster sustainability and have a positive impact.

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Hrh The Prince Of Wales

For over 50 years, HRH The Prince of Wales has built a unique credibility by using his voice to advocate for action to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises including serving as Patron to dozens of environmental initiatives and organizations. The Princeâs first speech on the issue was in February 1970 when he spoke of the problems of throwing away materials such as plastics, and how we could make conservation cost effective. HRH was a lone but determined voice on this issue for many decades, but climate is now at the top of the international agenda. As the next Head of the Commonwealth, HRH has also been convening the 54 leaders of the Commonwealth to ensure the views of developed and developing countries alike are heard, and to focus on the green recovery, investment for sustainable transition and the opportunity for collective action across the Commonwealth, particularly across climate vulnerable and small island states.

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