Citi's $100 Billion Goal Will Transform How We See Renewables

Spanning the course of one decade, Citigroup is devoting $100 billion to sustainability strategies that will affect the world's citizens. The money will be primarily used for lending to and facilitating activities focused on "combating climate change" among other solutions. A more detailed infographic can be found below. With HQ in Manhattan, the banking giant launched their plan at a NY event last Wednesday to get things going and start committing to their huge financial commitment.

A long history of exceeding expectations, Citi will likely continue to defy odds. Their reputation as an environmentally-conscious multinational company and 2007 announcement of allocating 50 billion dollars towards similar climate goals are both excellent examples of how their success is pretty much ensured this time. In fact, says a director at Citi, the new goal will "build on the learnings that we accumulated during the first $50 billion".

By getting other corporations to reach for the low-hanging fruit that is energy efficiency, Citi believes it can make a positive difference while not detracting from their original work.

Another way Citi plans to work sustainably is to finance urban infrastructure so that individual and innovative projects can be put together in creative ways for the best intracity results. For example, Citi can take something like a network of sensors built to help drivers find parking spots, and make sense of it by associating them to a citywide array of other mini advancements.

The answer to this initiative lies partly in the term "green bonds". These are bonds that are issued by organizations for the development of areas of land with abandoned buildings and low levels of pollution. Usually both parties have to trust the other. Recently, a set of guidelines was created called the GBP that established some voluntary rules in the burgeoning green bond market, and Citi's involvement points to the reality of an added presence in the city landscape. Many states like California and Connecticut are already considering making these deals with Citi and other groups, and raising money "specifically for green bond purposes" says the global head of Citi Alternative Energy Finance, Marshall Salant.

Although Citigroup will continue to lend money to coal-producing companies, they realize that a rapid shift to only renewable energy would further complicate the situation they're in. A slow transition is key.