JPMorgan Unveils Goal to Support $2.5 Trillion in Climate-Friendly Investments

By Orla McCaffrey

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is pledging to facilitate $2.5 trillion worth of climate-conscious transactions over the next decade.

The bank, the U.S.'s largest by assets, said it would deploy its own capital and offer its expertise to help clients and customers to "accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy."

It is unclear how much of the $2.5 trillion will come from JPMorgan itself. All relevant transactions the bank finances, structures or otherwise facilitates will count toward the target, the bank said.

Climate activists and the bank's own investors have for years called on it to use its lending power to protect the environment. JPMorgan had some $40 billion in lending exposure to oil-and-gas companies last year, and the Rainforest Action Network considers it the world's biggest financier of fossil fuels.

JPMorgan expects more than $1 trillion of the commitment to go toward projects that support green energy, including wind and solar. The bank financed or facilitated more than $55 billion worth of green energy projects in 2020.

"This financing commitment is really our long-term ambition to support our clients and our customers as they transition their businesses to make them more sustainable," Marisa Buchanan, the bank's head of sustainability, said in an interview.

Another area of focus will be development finance targeted at improving socioeconomic development in emerging economies. JPMorgan also said it hopes to promote economic inclusion in the U.S. by lending to small businesses and home buyers.

Last fall, the bank carved out $30 billion on its balance sheet to work on closing the racial wealth gap. It also has said it would work toward the Paris climate accord's goal of global net-zero emissions by 2050 by investing in technologies that reduce carbon emissions and working with clients to cut their carbon footprints.

Write to Orla McCaffrey at orla.mccaffrey@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 15, 2021 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)

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