Environmental sustainability is key in ensuring future generations can live productive and prosperous lives.
That’s why Sunrise Banks has started the process of tracking the carbon emissions of its loan portfolio through the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) Off Site Link, an industry-led partnership that helps financial institutions institute a plan to track their carbon footprint.
This effort is a major step towards reducing the bank’s greenhouse gas emissions and devising strategies to remain sustainable in the future.
Sunrise will release its first PCAF report – outlining both its operational and financed greenhouse gas emissions – in June of 2022.
What is the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials?
PCAF, short for the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, represents a global group of financial institutions that devised standards by which banks can track their carbon emissions. The group created the Global Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Reporting Standard, which provides banks with the baseline data they need to measure and disclose the financed emissions of their loan portfolio at a fixed point in time.
Sunrise Banks started work on measuring its carbon footprint as part of the Climate Change Commitment, an initiative spearheaded by the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) that aligns with the Paris Climate Agreements’ goal of keeping global temperature rise this century below two degrees.
How Will Sunrise Track its Emissions?
PCAF’s system measures and discloses the greenhouse gas emissions of six different asset classes: Listed equity and corporate bonds; business loans and unlisted equity; project finance; commercial real estate; mortgages; and motor vehicle loans.
Sunrise will produce reports of its emissions annually using the Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Reporting Standard. The bank’s first report will be released in June. Each report will disclose the carbon emissions of Sunrise Banks’ loan portfolio as well as the amount of carbon the bank emits through everyday operations. These emissions will be reported in metric tons.
An Investment in the Future
By measuring the bank’s carbon footprint, Sunrise can learn more about its operational and financed emissions and design strategies to become more sustainable. It’s the first step in a long journey to become carbon neutral and protect our planet.
Ultimately, Sunrise Banks and the other financial institutions participating in the PCAF initiative aim to create net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, a goal that aligns with the Paris Agreement Off Site Link.
Learn more about PCAF – and other banks measuring their carbon footprint – here Off Site Link.