PNC reduces financing of environmentally harmful practices

Penn's partnership with PNC Bank, a longstanding concern for Penn students, should no longer raise eyebrows: The bank is taking steps to be more environmentally aware in its financial investments. 

The bank announced in its 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report that it will not give credit to mining projects or coal producers “with 25 percent or more of their production coming from MTR [mountaintop removal] mining,” a process in which mountain tops are cut off in order to get to the coal beneath. This is a significant change from the company’s previous standard of 50 percent.

The shift comes after pushback from environmental groups, like the one organized by the Earth Quaker Action Team on Penn’s campus last December. The University disappointed students in Penn Community Against Mountaintop Removal when it renewed its contract with PNC in 2013. Penn has most recently agreed to renew its contract with the bank for another five years starting July 1.

In PNC’s report, it noted that it now looks at potential clients’ past and present compliance to environmental standards. This year, it plans to include an assessment of environmental practices when assessing risk of business with customers. PNC also hired an Environmental and Social Risk Officer to aid this process and assess the bank’s own policies.

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