JPMorgan Chase to Be 100 Percent Reliant on Renewable Energy by 2020; Announces $200 Billion Clean Energy Financing Commitment

NEW YORK, July 28, 2017 /3BL Media/-- “Business must play a leadership role in creating solutions that protect the environment and grow the economy,” said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. “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.”

100 Percent Renewable Energy Commitment

The firm will achieve its goal by prioritizing transactions that add new renewable energy to the grids on which it consumes power. JPMorgan Chase will install renewable energy technology across buildings and branches, sign Power Purchase Agreements with renewable energy projects and reduce energy consumption. Details include:

• Installing on-site renewable energy
  • Developing on-site solar power generation for up to 1,400 bank-owned retail and 40 commercial buildings globally. Examples of installations under consideration include:
    • At nearly 2 million square feet, JPMorgan Chase's Polaris Corporate Center in Columbus, Ohio is the firm’s largest single-tenant office in the world. The solar installation could comprise up to 20 megawatts (MW) of capacity – enough to power the equivalent of 3,280 homes – to offset 65 percent of on-site power usage.
    • Solar installation at the new JPMorgan Chase Legacy West Complex in Plano, Texas, which could provide up to 7 MW of renewable power.
  • Piloting an installation of solar panels at Chase branches in California and New Jersey, with plans to introduce solar technology to thousands of other locations.
  • Installing large capacity fuel cell technology at the firm's commercial sites starting at Metrotech Center in Brooklyn, New York and small capacity fuel cells at retail sites.
     
• Executing Power Purchase Agreements for renewable energy
  • Using the strength of the firm’s global reach and expertise in the renewable power sector to support the development of new renewable energy projects on the grids from which JPMorgan Chase purchases power.
  • Executing wind and solar Power Purchase Agreements in select markets in the United States to offset the firm’s traditional power consumption by 40 percent.
    • As a first step, JPMorgan Chase’s Global Real Estate and Global Commodities divisions executed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with a subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc. to support the development of the Buckthorn wind farm, a 100 MW project in Erath County, Texas. Signed in November 2016, the project is expected to be operational by the end of 2017. Over half of the wind farm’s output was purchased by the Global Real Estate team and will provide electricity for approximately 75 percent of the firm’s power consumption in Texas and 13 percent of overall consumption in the United States. This includes the firm’s new 6,000-employee campus at Legacy West in Plano, Texas, which will open in late 2017. The project created about 190 clean energy construction jobs and will produce enough renewable energy annually to power the equivalent of 29,300 homes.
    • The firm intends to execute additional Power Purchase Agreements.
       
• Reducing energy consumption
  • Conducting the world's largest LED lighting installation in partnership with Current, powered by GE. About 4,500 Chase branches will install new lighting technologies, cutting total energy consumption by 15 percent.
    • 2,500 branches have been retrofitted with LED lighting to date for a total of 1.4 million new light bulbs, cutting lighting energy consumption by 50 percent, or the equivalent of taking nearly 27,000 cars off the road.
  • Installing Building Management Systems (BMS) in collaboration with Current, powered by GE, across retail branches to synchronize lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and irrigation systems with operational control.
    • The BMS sensors, software and lighting controls will reduce electric and gas consumption of Chase branches by 15 percent and water consumption from irrigation systems by 20 percent.
  • Placing thermal energy blankets above the ceiling tiles in more than 1,700 retail branches.

Clean Financing Commitment

JPMorgan Chase is making the largest commitment by a global financial institution to facilitate $200 billion in clean financing by 2025. JPMorgan Chase has facilitated and advised on some of the largest clean financings and strategic transactions in the renewable energy sector. Examples include:

• Advising clients on leading strategic transactions and capital raises in the renewable energy sector, including:
  • Dong Energy, a global leader in offshore wind, on its USD $3.0 billion Initial Public Offering (2016).
  • SunEdison’s second lien creditor constituents on the sale of a controlling stake in TerraForm Power and the sale of TerraForm Global to Brookfield Asset Management (2017).
  • Enbridge on its C$2.1 billion partnership with EnBW around the Hohe See and Albatross offshore wind farms in Germany (2017).
     
• Financing and providing risk management solutions for clients’ renewable energy projects and companies to facilitate new energy, technology, transportation, waste management, and water treatment innovations.JPMorgan Chase provided nearly $2 billion in tax equity for wind, solar and geothermal projects in 2016.
  • In 2016, JPMorgan Chase served as FX hedge provider in the project financing to MGT Power Limited for its Teesside Renewable Energy Plant, the largest dedicated biomass project to be built in the UK. The project produces enough energy to power 600,000 homes.
     
• Underwriting debt with a sustainable use of proceeds for municipal, corporate and multilateral clients.
  • These transactions totaled nearly $15 billion in 2016. Projects in 2017 include serving as active bookrunner on Apple’s $1.0 billion green bond offering in June.
     
• Supporting clients’ sustainability initiatives.
  • JPMorgan Chase provides industry-leading research and publishes reports on environmental, social and governance issues.
  • The firm shares insights and best practices on sustainability with its corporate and investor clients to advance efforts globally.

Sustainability Milestones

JPMorgan Chase has a history of advancing environmentally sustainable solutions and integrating sustainability into the firm’s culture. Notable milestones include:

For more information on JPMorgan Chase’s history of advancing sustainability, go to www.jpmorganchase.com/environmentalsustainability