Resilience is an imperative for any company. How markets and stakeholders judge resilience and use sustainability as an input for that judgment continues to evolve. For the financial industry, sustainability considerations cover a broad range of topics — asset valuation, risk management, potential paths of economic growth, community engagement, employee culture and government policies, among others.  As such, it remains an important topic for our firm.

We manage BNY with an emphasis on resilience, and we are now increasingly focused on how being more sustainable reinforces that mission for our company, our clients’ portfolios and the economy as a whole. We are concentrating on two areas: first, the role sustainability plays in our operations, both the impact we have on the environment and on the financial system; and second, how we work with our clients to enable their own sustainability objectives including advancing a more inclusive economy.

Given the unique role that BNY plays in the global financial system – touching around a fifth of the world’s investable assets and providing essential market infrastructure – we have a unique ability to help clients understand and address sustainability challenges. Being client-led is central to our approach and, as part of those efforts, we are giving clients the tools and data to make the best possible decisions about a range of issues, such as how energy transition or climate resilience will impact their investments. In addition, we are providing them with a number of options to meet their own sustainability objectives, such as sustainable funds and green bond offerings.  

Our work to analyze and understand sustainability risks has also guided the way we operate BNY, including growing our use of renewable energy. In 2023, we hired our first Chief Sustainability Officer and have accelerated our work toward delivering greenhouse gas reductions in relevant areas of our Scope 1, Scope 2 (location-based) and Scope 3 financed emissions, consistent with 1.5˚C degree pathways by 2030.

Sustainability, of course, is about more than driving efficiencies and managing risks. The second key aspect of our work is the way we engage with partners to drive a more inclusive economy. One of the biggest challenges faced by underserved communities is that the financial institutions that serve them sometimes do not have sufficient scale or capabilities in the context of the broader financial system.

I am proud of the steps we are taking to help build a more inclusive economy, such as a historic $500 million debt offering in BNY notes led entirely by minority-, veteran- and woman-owned firms as joint bookrunners – the first such notes issuance for a global systemically important bank.

We are also expanding our efforts to provide community banks with the solutions, tools and platforms they need to scale their services and reach more people, including through alliances with Bronx-based Ponce Bank and South Carolina’s Optus Bank via the U.S. Treasury Department’s Mentor-Protégé Program.

Sustainability is important to BNY’s ability to be a source of resilience and trust. BNY has helped our clients and the financial system navigate 240 years of changes, and we have the commitment and wherewithal to navigate today’s challenges. I’m pleased to share with you this year’s sustainability report, which aims to provide a deeper understanding of our efforts.