The inaugural report outlines Forbright’s approach to laying a strong ESG foundation across Forbright Bank’s operations, loan selection, and capital allocation processes with all of its stakeholders in mind — its investors, employees, customers, communities, and the environment.

During 2021, Forbright Bank became the seventh U.S. bank to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking and set an ambitious goal to dedicate half of its portfolio to sustainable finance by 2025.

Forbright Bank has released its inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report for the 2021 calendar year. Forbright is a purpose-driven, full-service bank committed to playing a central role in accelerating the transition to a sustainable and clean energy economy. Headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, Forbright actively integrates ESG best practices into its mission, across its operations, and as a part of its loan selection and capital allocation processes. Forbright’s mission is to enable businesses and consumers to achieve their diverse banking needs in a way that drives more sustainable outcomes for communities and society as a whole.

The 2021 ESG Report captures Forbright’s deliberate steps toward supporting a lower carbon economy and promoting affordable and accessible essential services, such as housing, healthcare, and financial services. This includes Forbright’s lending policies as well as its approach to financing companies across service-driven industries such as clean energy, healthcare, technology, and real estate that can contribute to the transition to a more sustainable economy.

“Banks play an essential role in financing the private sector’s transition to a low carbon and more sustainable economy. Forbright’s inaugural ESG report outlines our practices and commitments that support a move toward a brighter, greener, and more sustainable future, and we are proud to be an institution mission-aligned around these goals,” said Founder and Executive Chairman John Delaney.

“As we continue to invest in our communities, empower our workforce, and finance a more sustainable future, we are committed to transparency at every step along the way. This inaugural report reflects Forbright’s sustainability mindset and our dedication to continual learning and integration of best-in-class ESG practices across the organization,” said Samantha Norquist, Executive Vice President, Chief ESG Officer.

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The 2021 ESG Report highlights Forbright’s ESG-related practices and policies, ongoing activities and initiatives, and future goals central to its stakeholders, including investors, employees, customers, communities, and the environment. Highlights from 2021, described in more detail in the report include:

• Setting an ambitious goal to dedicate 50% of Forbright’s portfolio to Sustainable Finance by 2025;
• Building a Sustainable Finance Framework, guided by standards such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, to outline a methodology for “sustainable” loans and investment opportunities;
• Creating an ESG Lending Working Group, focused on embedding ESG considerations across lending verticals, and an ESG Operations Working Group focused on improving ESG-related practices across operations;
• Issuing a first Green Bond focused on financing renewable energy and energy efficient projects, making Forbright the eighth U.S. financial institution overall to issue a green bond and the first with under $150 billion in consolidated total assets to do so;
• Becoming the seventh U.S. bank signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking;
• Reaching carbon neutrality in Forbright’s operational footprint for the first time in 2021;
• More than doubling its corporate charitable giving between 2020 and 2021; and
• Attracting diverse new hires, with 43% of new hires during 2021 self-identifying as racially or ethnically diverse.

For more information read Forbright’s 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report.

Source: Forbright Bank