Case study: How Amalgamated Bank works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices

Stakeholder identification and consultation

Please describe which stakeholders (or groups/ types of stakeholders) you have identified, consulted, engaged, collaborated or partnered with for the purpose of implementing the Principles and improving your bank’s impacts. This should include a high-level overview of how your bank has identified relevant stakeholders, what issues were addressed/results achieved and how they fed into the action planning process.

Amalgamated Bank promotes a corporate culture that encourages open communication across its stakeholders through both formal and informal channels. The bank values meaningful engagement with its stakeholders, consistently addressing key issues of importance to them.

• Employees: Topics such as business strategy, industry trends, and the competitive environment are shared through town halls, newsletters, and meetings, along with Q&A sessions with management.
• Customers & Communities: The bank prioritizes social responsibility through initiatives like affordable housing loans, fossil fuel-free investments, green lending, financing for community development financial institutions, lending to minority-owned businesses, and debit card options that allow for money to be donated to charities, among others.
• Investors: Details of Amalgamated Bank’s financial performance and transparent disclosures on its CSR initiatives are shared via financial reports, regulatory filings, and proxy statements.
• Industry Alliances and Affiliations: Collaborating with industry partners, the bank addresses important issues such as climate change, financial inclusion, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, gun safety, workers’ rights, diversity, and community development.
• Unionized Labour: Regular engagement with the bank’s unions focuses on workers’ rights, retirement security, and workplace safety.

How did Amalgamated Bank work with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities?

In its 2023 ESG Summary Amalgamated Bank reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

Amalgamated Bank is collaborating with its clients to provide more capital that supports both people and the planet, as evidenced by its loans to high-impact sectors. The bank has partnered with long-standing clean energy clients to expand into areas such as micro-grids and energy storage, while continuing to strengthen its financing for workforce and affordable housing. Additionally, Amalgamated Bank has worked with clients at the intersection of equity and climate on the development of new federal programs that rely on private capital for success.

In terms of building a comprehensive investment portfolio, Amalgamated Bank believes there is a strong connection between a values-driven approach and long-term value creation. The Investment Services team works closely with clients and investment managers to create values-aligned portfolios. Last year, the bank launched a fossil fuel-free portfolio series that addressed the intersection of climate and racial justice impacts.  Amalgamated Bank believes that by owning ESG funds, investors become more engaged advocates for change. These investments take an active stake in the companies or organizations committed to sustainable practices such as environmental protection and tackling social equity issues.

UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet

With over 300 signatory banks representing almost half of the global banking industry, the Principles for Responsible Banking are the world’s foremost sustainable banking framework. Through these Principles, the banking community takes action to align core strategies, decision-making, lending and investment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement.

FBRH Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Assurance:

First class PRB assurance services: The result of solid, hands-on ESG/ Sustainability experience

• • • FBRH is a GRI Certified Training Partner (Global), ISEP Training Centre and a member of CPD.
    • FBRH builds trust. Over 200 reviews from top professionals from around the world demonstrate our ability to build strong, trusting business relationships.
    • FBRH possesses a unique skill set that combines ESG/sustainability certified training, experience in advisory services and report preparation, and ESG/sustainability report assurance.

The combination of all the above empowers FBRH to provide first class Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) assurance services.

References:

This case study is based on published information by Amalgamated Bank, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://amalgamatedbank.com/sites/default/files/2023_CSR_Report.pdf

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