BURLINGTON, VT, JUNE 28, 2023: 1% for the Planet, a global organization that exists to ensure our planet and future generations thrive, announced today that it has recently moved its primary banking relationship to Amalgamated Bank, America’s socially responsible bank. 1% for the Planet will use Amalgamated’s services to handle its day-to-day banking needs.
“We are proud to join forces with Amalgamated, an organization with a deep commitment to climate justice and a history of addressing a range of issues – from immigrant and reproductive rights to racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights – with bold solutions,” said 1% for the Planet CEO Kate Williams. “By partnering with the Bank, we ensure that our deposits will be put to work in ways that support our mission to create a healthier planet for all.”
Investments and cash held in banks are a significant source, and sometimes the largest source, of emissions for companies, according to The Carbon Bankroll, a new report that analyzes the climate impact of companies’ banking and investment practices. The report underscores how for many companies and organizations, their climate work is being undermined by their banks, which are collectively channeling hundreds of billions of deposit dollars into the carbon-intensive sectors driving the climate crisis and generating substantial emissions in the process. However, subsequent research by the report authors demonstrates that we are not resigned to this fate of passive, emissions-intensive banking. In fact, companies and organizations can reduce the emissions enabled by their banking by up to 94%, just by moving to a green bank like Amalgamated Bank.
“At 1%, we understand that impact that can be generated by every dollar, whether it is donated by our members to environmental nonprofits or deposited in a bank. That’s why we felt it was so important for us to build a relationship with a bank like Amalgamated Bank, which stewards our deposits in a way that aligns with the great work our member businesses and nonprofits are doing,” said Williams.
In welcoming 1% for the Planet to Amalgamated, Priscilla Sims Brown, the Bank‘s President, and CEO, said, “We are honored that Kate and her team have selected our Bank as their primary financial institution. Their leadership has empowered business and nonprofit partners to work together in the fight for social and environmental justice. Together with other non-profit groups and progressive organizations that are choosing to bank with us, we can take collective action to build a just, clean climate future for all.”