JPMorgan Chase expects to reach its goal of 100% renewable energy sourcing for global power needs across its buildings, branches, and data centers by the end of this year.

The global financial services firm with assets of $2.6 trillion initially set the 100% renewable energy target for 2020 in 2017. JPMorgan Chase’s strategy to get there included:

• Reducing energy consumption by implementing energy-efficient lighting and other technologies.
• Deploying onsite renewable energy at retail branches and commercial buildings globally.
• Executing power purchase agreements (PPAs) to support the development of new renewable energy projects on grids from which the company purchases energy.
• Purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs) to cover their remaining electricity supply.

In June 2017, JPMorgan Chase collaborated with Current to add new energy management and digital technologies for cutting energy consumption at 4,500 bank branches. Later that year, the effort expanded to retrofitting more than 70% of Detroit branches with LED lights and new building management systems.

For renewable energy procurement, by year-end 2018 the firm reported sourcing renewable energy for 22% of their global power consumption. Electricity production from onsite solar and fuel cells went from 5,328 MWh in 2016 to 6,472 MWh in 2017 and 13,290 MWh in 2018.

Contracted renewable power, which includes RECs and a 2016 PPA for energy from the 100-MW Buckthorn wind farm in Texas, also increased. It was 210,000 MWh in 2016, 370,801 MWh in 2017, and had reached 375,280 MWh by 2018. The numbers for 2019 will likely be published this spring.

In addition to being on track for 100% renewable energy sourcing in 2020, JPMorgan Chase pledged to facilitate $200 billion in deals that advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“The world will need to continue to use fossil fuels for the foreseeable future — even as efforts are made to increase market penetration of lower-carbon energy sources and to develop new technologies that can advance deep decarbonization,” the company’s recently published environmental and social policy framework says. “Our objective is to support companies that are thinking strategically about this transition and that are positioning themselves to decarbonize over time.”

Source: Environment + Energy Leader