What is Net Zero Banking?
Net zero banking is a practice where banks align lending and investment activities with the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions. This effort is meant to reduce emissions and contribute to the mitigation of climate change through strategic financing and advocacy efforts by the bank and its partners.
Why Where you Bank Matters
According to Project Drawdown, big banks in the U.S. lend as much as 30% of their portfolio to carbon-intensive sectors driving climate change. Most people don’t know what their bank account is funding or that it may be a significant source of carbon emissions. With Net Zero Deposits, you’ll know what is behind your bank account and how it is actively helping to reduce, remove, or avoid carbon emissions.
Reaching net zero emissions by 2050 globally has been identified as the way to limit the global temperature increase to to 1.5 degrees Celcius and mitigate climate change’s worst impacts, according to the Paris Agreement.
What is Net Zero Deposits?
Net Zero Deposits turn a basic bank account into a meaningful way to mitigate the impacts of climate change and drive the transition to a net zero economy.
As a Sunrise Banks customer, you choose to designate deposits from your Checking, Savings or CD account to net zero projects that reduce or avoid carbon emissions including:
- Energy Reduction and Efficiency Upgrades
- Renewable Energy
- Green Buildings
- Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
Visit our Resource Center to learn more about Net Zero Banking and the local projects it supports.
How Net Zero Deposits Work
Open A Sunrise Banks Account
Personal or business checking, savings and certificate of deposit accounts are all eligible to be designated for Net Zero Deposits.
Designate Your Account Balances for Net Zero Deposits
When you open an account online, you can choose to designate it to Net Zero Deposits. If you already have an eligible Sunrise Banks account, just let a banker know you’d like to assign your existing Sunrise Banks accounts to the initiative. Your deposit dollars will be designated to loans designed to drive the transition to a net zero economy.
Watch Your Community Grow
You get to maintain normal access to your account and funds, per the terms and conditions of the account. The money is still yours – Sunrise Banks simply leverages your dollars to make loans that benefit the planet.
Rest easy knowing your money is working to make a meaningful impact.
To designate your existing Sunrise Banks account to Net Zero Deposits, call your local branch or get in touch with your banker.
2025 Net Zero Banking Report
We’re proud to uphold our promise of transparency in ethical banking through this annual report illustrating the impact of our Net Zero Banking Program. This report covers the annual aggregated average dollar amount of Net Zero Deposits allocated to Net Zero Financing projects from January-December 2025. The total dollar amount designated to Net Zero Deposits grew by 70% during 2025, and the number of customers with accounts designated to Net Zero Deposits nearly tripled.
These deposits reduced and avoided a total of 494 tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to powering approximately 103 single-family homes with clean electricity for a year.
Estimate the Impact of Switching Where You Bank
Every $1,000 you shift away from a carbon-intensive bank account into Net Zero Deposits bank account reduces 0.354 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per year. You can use this formula to get an estimate of your community decarbonization impact:
$ you have in the bank (in thousands) × -0.354 tCO2e = Your estimated comparative reduced emissions by shifting away from a carbon- intensive bank account
Consider where you are banking today.
Moving $10K from a carbon intensive bank account to a Net Zero Deposits account is equivalent to the direct emissions reduced by switching to an electric vehicle for a year.
Read the full report for more insights on how making a simple change at no cost — like switching where you bank — can elevate your sustainability approach from mere awareness to meaningful action.
Read the 2025 Net Zero Banking Report