Published October 2023

At Citizens, we are here to support our clients’ transitions to a lower-carbon future. No matter where they are on their sustainability journey, we want to help them identify and seize business opportunities, meet and exceed the expectations of their stakeholders and manage climate-related risks.

We believe financial institutions can be levers of change. Our unique position enables us to gather insights from across sectors and supply chains and to share best practices with our clients. As a trusted advisor, we leverage our experience to create solutions and practices that help our commercial clients advance their business strategies, including their sustainability goals.

"Everything that we do is about serving our clients," explains Don McCree, vice chairman and head of commercial banking. "We're out with our clients, talking with them about their plans, understanding what their goals are and thinking about ways that we can try to support them."

A partner for progress

As climate change escalates in importance, sustainability initiatives are becoming a common expectation for stakeholders and routinely required in requests for proposals. Clients are focused on the potential risks to their business if they fall behind and want to know what they need to do, when they need to do it and how to accomplish their goals.

“The transition to a lower-carbon future is an increasingly important conversation we’re having with our clients,” McCree says. “First and foremost, their constituencies really care about the topic. It’s a topic everyone wants to talk about right now to understand what the strategies of an individual company are in terms of climate transition.”

Whether an organization has its sights on becoming net zero or simply wants to better control its energy use and costs, we can help clients identify the best technologies, solution providers and strategies that help them achieve their goals. Sharing the knowledge and insights we gain from conversations across a wide range of industries enables us to deliver tailored, relevant ideas to our clients that solve the challenges they are facing.

We’ve also learned that clients are interested in finding out more about Citizens’ own sustainability journey. In our conversations with clients, we share the approach we took to developing our ESG strategy and insights from our own operations — including our virtual power purchase agreement with Ørsted and how we measure our emissions and disclose our progress. 

"We want our clients to think of Citizens as the go-to institution where they can call up their lead banker and say, 'I've got this problem,'" McCree explains, "and it could be 'I need to build a plant' or 'I need to do a mergers and acquisitions transaction' or 'I need some advice on ESG and how I should be thinking about it.'"

Strengthening our skills to provide advice and expertise

To ensure that we are able to help our clients prepare for and finance their futures in a lower-carbon economy, we are working continuously to prepare our colleagues to effectively engage and counsel clients.  

"We've committed to upskilling 100% of our frontline commercial and business bankers on climate-related topics so they are prepared to listen, learn and share insights with clients," says McCree. 

This education, developed and taught by Citizens’ sustainability, commercial and business banking leaders, covers relevant climate-related topics that bankers need to know. The content is continually updated so bankers can share the latest information and knowledge with clients.

“To date, we have found our clients are interested in insights, expertise and advice including sector-level trends related to climate reporting, target setting, investment in decarbonization technology, risk reporting and policy incentives,” McCree notes. "We want to make sure our clients are aware of the available incentives and aren't leaving them on the table."

Engaging with a trusted advisor gives companies access to experts who understand climate change and effective strategies for more sustainable business practices. 

Building solutions that meet clients’ needs

Through our ongoing conversations and engagement with clients, we work to understand their challenges and opportunities and develop solutions that help them achieve their goals. Our existing products and services can support clients in a variety of ways, including financing facility upgrades or sustainable equipment that reduces emissions. 

We also offer two targeted solutions for commercial clients: Sustainable Deposits and Carbon Offset Deposit Accounts.

Sustainable Deposits (originally called Green Deposits when launched in 2021) allows commercial clients to earmark their deposits against a portfolio of eligible investments such as renewable energy, green buildings and affordable housing. This enables our clients to support socially and environmentally beneficial activities while still receiving daily liquidity, earning interest and remaining FDIC insured. The idea behind Sustainable Deposits was to provide our clients with a deposit option that complements and expands their existing sustainability and social impact programs. 

Our second solution, the Carbon Offset Deposit Account, provides clients with a simple way to have an immediate environmental impact while continuing to work on longer-term emission reduction strategies. With credit earned on deposits, we purchase carbon offsets on the client’s behalf, which are retired for their exclusive use. Clients benefit from our vendor relationships, quality standards and ongoing monitoring of market developments, giving them confidence in the impact. 

Both solutions were born from Citizens’ Innovation Forum, an internal think tank where colleagues are invited to submit new ideas to improve our customers’ experience. We see a direct link between innovation and sustainability and encourage our colleagues to continuously aim to develop new solutions and services to help clients reach their goals.

Dedication to building a more sustainable future

At Citizens, we value our role in helping to ensure customers, colleagues and communities are ready for long-term successes. We're working toward creating a stronger and more sustainable future by reducing our own emissions, investing in renewable energy and counseling clients on their sustainability journeys — because we recognize that we're all in this together.

What you can do to learn more about sustainability at Citizens

• Read our latest sustainability announcement featuring our sustainable finance target, client engagement goals and commitment to achieve carbon neutrality.
• Learn more about our support for renewable energy through a virtual power purchase agreement with Ørsted.
• View our latest ESG Report, which outlines our progress on activities important to our business and stakeholders.
• Connect with the Citizens commercial banking team, who are ready to help you evaluate your sustainability needs and offer solutions.