08 April 2008
Financial Firm Translates Global Reach into Global Giving
Citi invests in volunteerism, microfinance, emissions reduction
Washington -- One of the world's largest financial services firms, Citi (formerly known as Citigroup), oversees philanthropic and volunteer programs that are almost as extensive and geographically dispersed as its global business activities.
These corporate giving programs range from a 10-year, $200 million commitment to financial education programs for children, teenagers and adults in schools around the world to an unprecedented effort to direct $50 billion over the next decade into "green" investments, alternative energy and new technologies.
VOLUNTEERS
The company's chief philanthropic arm, Citi Foundation, reports that in 2006 its total giving rose to nearly $93 million in 86 countries and territories, an increase of 37 percent over its international donations the previous year.
"Each day, thousands of Citi employees make a tremendous difference in their communities by donating their time and talent to local nonprofits," said Pamela Flaherty, Citi Foundation president.
One example of Citi's volunteerism was Global Community Day 2007, in November 2007, when more than 60,000 of the corporation's employees and its affiliates participated in hundreds of local and community projects. These projects ranged from tree planting in four provinces of Thailand to refurbishing a school in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
ENVIRONMENT AND GREENHOUSE GASES
Citi's decadelong environmental program is multifaceted. As much as $10 billion will be devoted to reducing Citi's own environmental "footprint," or impact, 10 percent a year by 2011, primarily through measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its extensive real estate holdings.
The undertaking encompasses 14,500 offices and facilities around the world. In Frankfurt, Germany, for example, Citi is constructing a data center that will be one of the most energy- and resource-efficient of its kind.
In contrast to conventional buildings of similar size, the Frankfurt center, opening in spring 2008, will use 25 percent less electricity, enough to power 3,000 homes for a year, emit 11,000 fewer tons of carbon dioxide and save 40 million liters of water annually.
Over the next decade, Citi plans to invest more than $30 billion in clean and alternative energy through programs. These programs range from "renewables," like wind, solar and geothermal energy, to such new technologies as highly efficient combustion engines and hydrogen fuel cells.
Any successful effort to lower discharges of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will have to rely, in part, on allowing market forces to provide incentives to achieve national and international climate goals.
One such mechanism, which Citi is actively pursuing, is that of global carbon dioxide markets, also known as emissions trading. The basic concept is to establish an overall cap on the discharge of a specific gas, then allow companies and other emitters to buy and sell emission units among themselves while maintaining, or gradually lowering, the overall ceiling.
CITI AND MICROFINANCE
Microfinance, the practice of providing small-scale financial services to the world’s poor, began as a Citi philanthropy 30 years ago. Now it is a separate business unit that has been particularly active in South Asia.
Citi has established relationships with microfinance institutions in 20 countries and thinks the number could soon grow to 30.
Its largest microfinance initiative is with BRAC, the major microfinance and development program in Bangladesh. The BRAC program encompasses 1,200 local nongovernmental organizations and serves more than 5 million members, most of them Bangladeshi women. Of a total of $55 million in financing, Citi is providing $42 million.
The bottom line, Citi believes, is that the growing carbon dioxide market could offer both profits for investors and major greenhouse gas reductions for the world.
For more information about Citi's giving, see the company's Web site.
