Posted on 05/19/2007 2:50:48 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand
Wednesday May 16, 3:37 pm ET Institution Will Finance Energy-Saving Retrofits of Buildings in Major Cities
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citi today announced that it is committing $1 billion to the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), a project of the Clinton Foundation, to implement the new Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program in partnership with large city governments. Citi will provide expertise and financing for the first generation of projects in CCI's landmark program aimed at significantly reducing energy use in public and private buildings, which are responsible for between 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in most cities and over 70 percent in large cities, including New York.
Citi includes several business units that have been serving public sector clients in this arena for more than two decades and, accordingly, bring significant knowledge to these efforts. Citi's commercial finance and leasing unit, CitiCapital, will work with cities and private building owners to significantly reduce their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by retrofitting existing buildings with energy efficient products and technologies, which can reduce energy use by 20 percent to 50 percent. Citi is also the market leader in municipal bond underwritings, proceeds of which can be used to retrofit public buildings and related activities.
"Climate change is a global problem that requires local action," said President Bill Clinton. "The businesses, banks and cities partnering with my foundation are addressing the issue of global warming because it's the right thing to do, but also because it's good for their bottom line. They're going to save money, make money, create jobs and have a tremendous collective impact on climate change all at once. I'm proud of them for showing leadership on the critical issue of climate change and I thank them for their commitment to this new initiative."
"We are excited to join the CCI Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program as a founding financial partner and welcome this opportunity to share our expertise and other resources to help cities around the world reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Steven Freiberg, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Citi's Global Consumer Group.
"Today's $1 billion commitment to CCI is part of Citi's efforts to target some $50 billion over the next decade to address global climate change. Given that buildings are the largest users of energy in urban areas, this expanded retrofit program through CCI promises to provide significant reductions in energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions from the participating cities," Mr. Freiberg added.
Citi's participation in the CCI effort builds on its extensive "green" project financing and investments already underway, as well as the company's efforts to make its own operations environmentally friendly. Citi has committed to reduce its environmental footprint and has pledged to a 10 percent reduction in its own greenhouse gas emissions by 2011.
Citi, through its CitiCapital unit, has developed an expertise in financing retrofit projects for more than 25 years, providing hundreds of millions of dollars of financing to such projects. It is a leader in municipal lease financings, with operations in North America and in every U.S. city involved in the CCI program. CitiCapital has implemented existing energy retrofit financing programs with municipalities and not-for-profit organizations in CCI targeted cities, including the Regents of the University of California in San Francisco as well as more than 30 municipal buildings in the City of New Orleans, LA, the State of Utah Department of Corrections in Salt Lake City, and Austin Community College in Austin, Texas.
In addition, CitiCapital is more than doubling its own commitment to facilitating the reduction of carbon-gas emissions and promoting sustainability by 2010. Its CitiCapital Energy Finance Unit has an existing portfolio of over $1 billion from underwriting energy efficiency upgrades for universities, local school districts, and various municipalities in the U.S., allowing clients to amortize the cost savings of improvement over a 15- to 20-year period generally without capital outlays.
Citi has long been active on environmental issues as evidenced by its initial and ongoing leadership in the development of the Equator Principles, which established best practices for assessing and mitigating social and environmental risks in project finance. Citi has also called for the development of global and U.S. frameworks that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, drive innovation and opportunity, bring clarity and certainty to the markets, and achieve a level playing field.
Citi's stock is part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good, both of which acknowledge leadership in setting standards in sustainable growth and in demonstrating exceptional environmental, social, and economic performance.
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi's brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Citi Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.
Certain statements in this document are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors. More information about these factors is contained in Citigroup's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact:
Citigroup Inc.
Media:
Christina Pretto, 212-559-9560
Michael Hanretta, 212-559-9466
Stephen Silverman, 212-793-0312
Source: Citigroup Inc.
Clinton's moneymagician friends, have advised him well -- this is a diabolically clever mechanism.
Oh, one more thing that everyone should know about Citi":former Clinton Administration treasury secretary Robert Rubin is a Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Citigroup.
Please, all inclined, have at it.
Please pardon the unusual ping. I thought it worthwhile enough that I decided to ping off-topic, something I almost never do. -- tih.
I agree with most of your state except the above.
Last time I checked, the people elect the president, NOT Citigroup.
Last time I checked, the people elect the president, NOT Citigroup.<<<
Yup...The “people” used Perot to elect a Clinton last time...
Nope, you got it backwards - Perot used the people to split the vote.
I can never understan how companies continue to back this con-artist,lying scumbag, and his witch wife.
Because they worship the Green Genie (money and phony climate scams), not the living God.
entirely correct.
And how easy it is to use the people, given the current state of government education/ indoctrination in America.
Pure sheep. - Nothing but proles.
It’s a sales/marketing pitch, to make loans.
which card to switch to if not Citi?
I’ve had a couple of run-ins with Citi, and they’re nothing more than a criminal enterprise disguised as a bank, or whatever they’re calling themselves this week.
It runs around buying up loan portfolios from other banks and then, all on its own without consulting the other party, it rewrites the contracts.
These people belong in prison, but they’re protected by the scum suckers infesting the US senate.
The Clinton Foundation—is this a drug re-hab, sexual predator re-hab, or a serial RICO convict support mechanism, or does it serve all three communities plus intervention for sociopaths?
Foundations...
I fear far too many Americans are just stupid and inattentive.
Clinton should be in prison not running a “foundation”.
500 million for clinton climate!
500 million for the piaps campaign war chest!!!
why bank with Citi???
Money elects the president, the last time I checked.
She's as good as in. You might as well start thinking ahead.
Good grief. Even Rudy wouldn’t touch this guys money.
This amnesty bill is Hillary’s 3rd party Perot vote!!!...
Oh, another thing everyone should know about Citi: they’re very active and proactive in “Sharia Compliant Finance,” - the next big thing to bedazzle Wall Street.
Robert Rubin, I believe he was the former Clinton official who called the Bush US Treasury Dept on behalf of Enron, Democrat Rubin wanted taxpayers to bail Enron out.
That’s in interesting tidbit. Is it true? Wonder how, if it is, it got forgotten. /sarc
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