From the Fifth Third Bancorp 2021 ESG Report: Achieving Carbon Neutrality in Our Operations
Fifth Third has been carbon neutral for our operations** since 2020. This was made possible through our combined efforts to reduce our own environmental footprint through efficiency investments and other projects, and by purchasing verified carbon offsets and renewable power, which began in 2020.
As an organization, we are now carbon neutral in our operations and removing as much carbon dioxide from the environment as we emit. This includes emissions related to all of our buildings (including data centers), corporate vehicles and business travel. In terms of GHG accounting, this includes all Scope 1 emissions, all Scope 2 emissions and Scope 3 business travel emissions. This was achieved by reducing our corporate carbon emissions, purchasing 100% renewable power and buying verified carbon offsets from projects within our Consumer Bank footprint to address our remaining emissions. We were the first among our banking peers to achieve carbon neutrality.
The carbon offsets for 2021 were purchased from two projects in partnership with ClimeCo, a leading global environmental credit project developer. The Recast Energy biomass project is a thermal energy generation conversion project in Louisville, Kentucky. The project converted a coal-fired system to a biomass system using locally available forestry and agricultural cellulose-based residues. Additional carbon offsets were acquired from Ascend Performance Materials for a project in Florida that reduces GHG emissions at a single adipic acid plant through the installation of a new absorption column that destroys N20 emissions above the baseline destruction rate that would otherwise have been vented to the atmosphere.
These projects met Fifth Third’s criteria for carbon offsets, including being registered with leading carbon offset registry (Verified Carbon Standard, Climate Action Reserve) and independently verified (First Environmental, Ruby Canyon Environmental) in accordance with industry best practices.
To read the full Environment section of the Fifth Third Bancorp 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance Report visit www.53.com. More about ESG can be found at the Bank’s Investor Relations site.
**For Fifth Third’s Scope 1, Scope 2 and business travel under Scope 3 emissions.
