Eastern Bank Joins Influential Sustainability Group to Help Advance Clean Energy Economy
March 27, 2017 /3BL Media/ -The nonprofit sustainability organization Ceres announced today that Eastern Bank has joined the Ceres Company Network. The Ceres board of directors approved the mutual bank’s membership in February 2017.
In joining the Ceres Company Network, Eastern Bank affirms its commitment to maintaining a sustainable business across Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Ceres membership will help support Eastern Bank’s continued efforts to improve its sustainability policies, procedures, and social and environmental performance.
The Ceres Company Network includes more than 50 companies from diverse sectors including financial services, food and beverage, footwear and apparel, and electric power, among others. Eligibility for Ceres Company Network membership requires an executive-level commitment to sustainability and a dedication to integrating sustainability into business strategies and decision-making.
“As a community bank, Eastern’s success depends upon healthy, vibrant, and prosperous communities,” said Bob Rivers, Chairman and CEO. “We are delighted to join the Ceres Company Network and our membership affirms our focus upon having a positive impact, and will provide opportunities to refine and strengthen our commitment to sustainability going forward.”
In 2013, Eastern Bank signed the Ceres Climate Declaration, calling on companies and policymakers to seize the economic opportunities in tackling climate change. Since then, the company has continued to demonstrate its sustainability leadership, including achieving 100 percent renewable energy sourcing for all of its branches and corporate offices. The company also extended its community development lending program to include support for renewable energy. Eastern has provided $185 million in financing to fund 17 solar farms, which produce enough energy to provide power for 13,300 homes just in Massachusetts.
This year, the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation will donate nearly $7.0 million to eligible organizations focused on serving historically marginalized communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
“Financial institutions have a critical role to play in financing the transition to a low-carbon future, and actualizing a more sustainable global economy," said Ceres President Mindy Lubber. “As America’s oldest and largest mutual bank, Eastern has been uniquely committed to the communities it has served since 1818. Eastern Bank’s membership to Ceres evidences the bank’s executive-level commitment to sustainable business.”
Eastern Bank joins the Ceres Company Network as its first regional and mutual bank member, alongside other banking and financial sector members including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Legg Mason, Morgan Stanley, State Street, Wells Fargo, and Vancity.
For more information about the Ceres Company Network, visit http://www.ceres.org/company-network.
About Eastern Bank
Founded in 1818 and based in Boston, Eastern Bank is America’s oldest and largest mutual bank, with $10 billion in assets and over 120 locations serving communities in eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Eastern provides exceptional access to fairly priced banking, investment and insurance products and services for consumers and businesses of all sizes. Eastern Bank, which includes Eastern Wealth Management and Eastern Insurance, is known for its outspoken advocacy and community support that has topped more than $100 million in charitable giving over the past 20 years. An inclusive company, Eastern employs 1,900 deeply committed professionals who value relationships with their customers, colleagues and communities. Join us for good at www.easternbank.com.
About Ceres
Ceres is a non-profit sustainability organization that is mobilizing many of the world’s largest companies and investors to take stronger action on climate change, water scarcity and other global sustainability challenges. Ceres directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a group of 120 institutional investors managing about $15 trillion assets focused on the business risks and opportunities of climate change and water scarcity. Ceres also engages with 100-plus companies, many of them Fortune 500 businesses, committed to sustainable business practices and the urgency for strong climate and clean energy policies. For more information, visit www.ceres.org or follow on Twitter @CeresNews.
