Company Profile - Citigroup
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Citigroup is the largest bank in the world. The corporate citizenship section of their website has no shortage of information on their stance on climate change. Basically, global warming is bad and we should do something about it - hardly revolutionary. However, Citi has made some very real commitments to help them cut their carbon footprint. They have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 10% from 2005 levels by 2011. Perhaps more impressive, they call for applying a price to carbon dioxide.
In their operations, they have made numerous changes at locations around the world to try to cut their environmental impact, and have even go as far as puschasing green power to meet some (although not nearly all) of their energy needs. In their business dealings, Citi likes to point out that they have helped finance several green ventures, particularly in wind, solar, and biofuel energy.
Their biggest downside is that it is quickly apparent that Citi's efforts to cut their carbon footprint is a seperate aspect of their company. There is a committee tasked with these projects that operates autonomously from most aspects of the business. The next step for Citi would be to bring the environment into their core business strategy.
On Feb 4, 2008, Citi announced, along with JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, the creation of the Carbon Principles. These are a set of basic climate change guidelines for lending and advising to power companies in the US. At this point it is still too early to tell wether this is a media gimick or a true aspect of their business strategy.
How do they stack up?
Business Strategy: 2.5/5 - the Carbon Principles are a good start, but its limited scope reflects the true extent of Citi's committment to fighting global warming.
Products & Services: 3/5 - moving inthe right direction, but still have a long way to go
Leading by Example: 3/5 - citi is on track to meet their goal of a 10% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2011, but there is still much more that Citi could do within their day to day operations that could have a significant, yet easy, impact on their carbon footprint.
Overall: 3/5
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