JP Morgan commits to 100% renewables as it makes $200bn clean finance vow

JP Morgan, which operates more than 5,500 properties across 60 countries, revealed that it will source renewable power for 100% of its global energy needs by 2020. The commitment was issued alongside a pledge to scale sustainability efforts of its 22,000 corporate and investor clients through a $200bn clean financing pool by 2025.

“Business must play a leadership role in creating solutions that protect the environment and grow the economy,” JP Morgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon said. “This global investment leverages the firm’s resources and our people’s expertise to make our operations more energy efficient and provide clients with the resources they need to develop more sustainable products and services.”

JP Morgan has already agreed to clean energy transactions totalling $15bn in 2016 alone, including adding $3bn to DONG Energy’s Initial Public Offering and a $2bn tax equity for wind, solar and geothermal initiatives. Projects already lined up for 2017 include acting as a bookrunner for Apple’s $1bn green bond offer.

The financial institution will use a combination of onsite projects and Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to hit its 100% renewables target. Onsite solar generation will be issued on 1,400 bank-owned retail outlets and 40 commercial buildings.

JP Morgan is currently evaluating suitable buildings for onsite deployment. The Polaris Corporate Centre in Ohio could generate 20MW of capacity and offset 65% of power usage onsite, according to the group. Elsewhere, solar installations at the Legacy West Complex in Texas could provide 7MW of power.

The company is also looking to install large capacity fuel cell technology at commercial sites, and will start at the Metrotech Centre in Brooklyn, with small capacity cells scheduled for retail sites.

World’s largest LED installation

PPAs will be issued in select US markets in an attempt to offset JP Morgan’s power consumption by 40%. A 20-year PPA with a subsidiary of NRG Energy has already been penned to support the development of the 100MW Buckthorn windfarm in Texas.

JP Morgan will unveil a plethora of energy-efficiency initiatives to further reduce energy consumption. The firm is conducting the world’s largest LED lighting installation in partnership with the GE-powered firm Current. Around 4,500 branches will be retrofitted with new lighting technologies to cut energy consumption by 15%.

To date, 2,500 branched have been retrofitted with 1.4m new LED bulbs, which has cut energy consumption at these branches by 50%. Building Management Systems (BMS) and sensors will also be introduced to reduce electric and gas consumption of branches by 15% and water consumption from irrigation by 20%.

Matt Mace