Climate Change Data

Columbia Banking System, Inc.

Climate Impact & Sustainability Data (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)

Reporting Period: 2019

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:Not disclosed
Scope 1 Emissions:Not disclosed
Scope 2 Emissions:Not disclosed
Scope 3 Emissions:Not disclosed
Renewable Energy Share:Not disclosed
Total Energy Consumption:23 million kWh
Water Consumption:47,280 kGal
Waste Generated:1,634,860 lbs. of paper recycled
Carbon Intensity:Not disclosed

ESG Focus Areas

  • Supporting Communities
  • Serving Customers
  • Operating Sustainably
  • Doing Meaningful Work

Environmental Achievements

  • Reduced water and energy usage over 2018
  • 1.6 MILLION pounds of paper recycled
  • Reduced mileage for courier transport
  • Reduced outgoing interoffice mail packages by 20%

Social Achievements

  • Doubled affordable housing lending to $195 million
  • Increased small business lending by 19%
  • Launched two new leadership programs
  • 43,462 volunteer hours completed by 2,306 associates
  • 7,547 hours of financial education provided
  • $3.4 million total charitable giving
  • Successfully helped 384 at-risk homeowners get back on track

Governance Achievements

  • Added new Chief Privacy Officer role
  • Launched a public-facing availability tracker for website uptime
  • Established an anonymous whistleblower system

Climate Goals & Targets

Long-term Goals:
  • Not disclosed
Medium-term Goals:
  • Not disclosed
Short-term Goals:
  • Reduce business travel by air and car by 30% in 2020
  • Cut paper use by 50% by 2025

Environmental Challenges

  • Not disclosed
Mitigation Strategies
  • Not disclosed

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement
  • 5% of supplier budget spent with minority- and women-owned businesses; partnerships with local vendors.

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Not disclosed
Transition Risks
  • Not disclosed
Opportunities
  • Not disclosed

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Null

Certifications: Null

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

  • Not disclosed

Not disclosed

Sustainable Products & Innovation

  • Go-To app, digital banking tools, paperless statements

Awards & Recognition

  • World’s Best Banks Forbes, Oregon’s Most Admired Financial Services Company, Portland Business Journal, Greenwich Excellence Awards, Celent Top 100 Corporate Philanthropists, San Francisco Business Times

Reporting Period: 2020

Environmental Metrics

Total Energy Consumption:19 million kWh
Water Consumption:37,938 kGal
Waste Generated:1,008,980 lbs of paper

ESG Focus Areas

  • Environmental
  • Social
  • Governance

Environmental Achievements

  • 76% reduction in total air miles traveled from 2019
  • Recycled more than 1.1 million pounds of paper in 2020

Social Achievements

  • Processed more than $2 billion in PPP-related loans to West Coast businesses
  • Launched Associate Relief Fund
  • Increased associate engagement score by 10 percentage points, from 58% to 68%

Governance Achievements

  • Expanded the oversight of our Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee to include periodic reviews of our ESG policies, practices, and disclosures
  • Established a chief privacy officer role under the General Counsel

Climate Goals & Targets

Short-term Goals:
  • Reduce paper use by 50% by 2025

Environmental Challenges

  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • Devastating wildfires on the West Coast
  • Systemic racism
Mitigation Strategies
  • Implemented virtual work protocols
  • Rolled out safety protocols across stores
  • Activated COVID and wildfire relief programs
  • Intensified work to better support people of color
  • Accelerated the company’s diversity and inclusion program

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • More than a quarter of our supplier budget was spent with small businesses, and nine percent with minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses.

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GRI, SASB

Awards & Recognition

  • World’s Best Banks, Forbes
  • U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study Highest Ranking Bank in the Northwest Region, J.D. Power
  • Oregon’s Most Admired Financial Services Company (16 consecutive years), Portland Business Journal
  • Best Community Bank USA, Capital Financial International
  • Top Corporate Philanthropists, San Francisco Business Times and Portland Business Journal

Reporting Period: 2021

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:9268 tCO2e/year
Scope 1 Emissions:2752 tCO2e/year
Scope 2 Emissions:5987 tCO2e/year
Scope 3 Emissions:529 tCO2e/year
Water Consumption:38,409 kGal/year
Waste Generated:1,170,000 lbs/year (recycled paper)

ESG Focus Areas

  • Expanding Access to Financial Services
  • Valuing our Workforce
  • Empowering our Communities
  • Focusing on our Customers
  • Operating Sustainably
  • Acting Responsibly

Environmental Achievements

  • 30% reduction in total GHG emissions and 19% reduction in emissions intensity since 2019
  • 90% reduction in total air miles traveled from 2019
  • Purchased $42 million in green bonds to finance Freddie Mac’s Green Advantage® loan program for workforce housing upgrades resulting in water savings of 370 million gallons/year, energy savings of 264 million kBtu/year, and GHG emission reduction of nearly 21,400 metric tons/year.

Social Achievements

  • Increased internal minimum wage to $18 per hour (20% increase)
  • 18,466 hours of volunteerism contributed to 750 organizations
  • $3.9 million total charitable giving
  • 57% increase in Associate Resource Group membership
  • Launched Associate Relief Fund, supporting 90 associates with an average of $2,029 per grant

Governance Achievements

  • Expanded and enhanced risk management framework to include ESG-related priorities
  • Began incorporating environmental, social, and governance considerations into eight priority areas of strategic risk assessment
  • Introduced new risk metrics to specifically monitor ESG performance and disclosure
  • Created a framework for climate-related stress testing

Climate Goals & Targets

Short-term Goals:
  • Cut paper consumption by half versus 2019 by 2025

Environmental Challenges

  • Supply chain issues
  • Workforce pressures
  • Ongoing disruption due to COVID variants
  • Climate change related risks (physical and transition risks)
Mitigation Strategies
  • Pivoting the company to help businesses get financial relief through the federal Paycheck Protection Program
  • Investing in green bonds and other sustainable financing
  • Employing ESG-related capital stress testing
  • Developing alternative sourcing strategies (implied)
  • Formalized multiple work location options: remote, in-office, and hybrid

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • Vendor code of conduct

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Wildfire
  • Drought
  • Intensifying storms
  • Higher sea levels
Transition Risks
  • Regulatory changes
  • Market shifts

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GRI Standards, SASB Commercial Banks, Consumer Finance, and Mortgage Finance standards, UN SDGs

UN Sustainable Development Goals

  • Goal 4
  • Goal 8
  • Goal 9
  • Goal 10
  • Goal 11
  • Goal 12
  • Goal 13
  • Goal 16

See SDG Index, p. 60

Awards & Recognition

  • Oregon’s Most Admired Financial Services Company (17 consecutive years)
  • Highest Ranking Bank in the Northwest Region (J.D. Power)
  • Top Corporate Philanthropists (San Francisco Business Times and Portland Business Journal)
  • Beyond the Check Award (San Francisco Business Times)
  • 2021 Ceiling Breaker Award (Portland Business Alliance)

Reporting Period: 2022

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:18,580 tCO2e/year (combined)
Scope 1 Emissions:4,892 tCO2e/year (combined)
Scope 2 Emissions:11,715 tCO2e/year (combined)
Scope 3 Emissions:1,975 tCO2e/year (combined)
Carbon Intensity:5.58 MT CO2e / 1,000 cal. norm. sq. ft. (combined, 2022)

ESG Focus Areas

  • Associate engagement and experience
  • Talent development
  • Corporate structure and practices
  • Associate diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • Environmental impact of operations
  • Community engagement
  • Social benefits of products and services

Environmental Achievements

  • 11.3% combined reduction in GHG emissions since 2019
  • Combined Scopes 1 and 2 emissions intensity decreased 3% since 2019

Social Achievements

  • Finalized a five-year, $8.1 billion Community Benefits Agreement
  • Contributed $20 million to the Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation
  • 47,324 combined volunteer hours with community organizations
  • $7.7 million in combined giving to community organizations

Governance Achievements

  • Successfully completed a full systems conversion two weeks after the merger
  • Established a Do Right Together culture framework

Climate Goals & Targets

Short-term Goals:
  • Invest $8.1 billion over five years per CBA

Environmental Challenges

  • Supply chain disruptions
  • Rising inflation and interest rates
  • Transforming workforce
  • Cybersecurity threats
  • Climate change related physical and transition risks
Mitigation Strategies
  • Investing in financial tools and infrastructure
  • Automating repetitive manual tasks
  • Finding new suppliers and implementing new inventory management techniques
  • Giving employees pay increases, bonuses, or other incentives
  • Measuring and reporting environmental impacts
  • Developing an ESG Firm Preparedness Scorecard
  • Membership in the Risk Management Association’s Climate Risk Consortia

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • Prioritizing renewable materials for office supplies, print products, and packaging

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Wildfire, drought, floods, storms
Transition Risks
  • Climate change policy and regulation, changes in public opinion, stakeholder expectations, and market demands

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GRI Standards, SASB Commercial Banks, Mortgage Finance, and Consumer Finance sector standards, UN SDGs

UN Sustainable Development Goals

  • Goal 4
  • Goal 8
  • Goal 9
  • Goal 10
  • Goal 11
  • Goal 12
  • Goal 13
  • Goal 16

See SDG Index in Appendices

Sustainable Products & Innovation

  • Green bonds

Awards & Recognition

  • Top Place to Work in Oregon and Southwest Washington
  • One of the Best Places to Work in Idaho

Reporting Period: 2023

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:22,365 tCO2e/year
Scope 1 Emissions:5,573 tCO2e/year
Scope 2 Emissions:9,712 tCO2e/year
Scope 3 Emissions:7,080 tCO2e/year
Renewable Energy Share:22.4% of office supply spend and 27% of print product weight
Total Energy Consumption:34.2 MWh/year
Water Consumption:172,398 kilogallons/year
Waste Generated:1,522,377 pounds of paper shredded and recycled/year

ESG Focus Areas

  • Energy management
  • Environmental benefits of products and services
  • Environmental impact of operations
  • ESG oversight and practices
  • Resource management
  • Suppliers and third-party vendors
  • Associate inclusion and belonging
  • Corporate structure and practices
  • Ethical practices
  • Social benefits of products and services
  • Associate engagement and development
  • Community engagement
  • Customer experience and feedback
  • Cybersecurity and Data privacy

Environmental Achievements

  • 12% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions since 2019

Social Achievements

  • 31,427 associate volunteer hours
  • $365,000 raised in Warm Hearts Winter Drive
  • Expanded access to financial management tools for online customers
  • 468 disaster relief loans totaling $2.9 million
  • $7.7 million donated to community organizations

Governance Achievements

  • Established a fraud response team to assist business customers
  • Reduced wait times for business customers contacting Treasury Management
  • Expanded SBA Express product to all markets
  • Launched company-wide Associate Survey
  • Completed trainings on managing bias and fostering inclusion (99.5% of associates)

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

  • Increased Scope 3 emissions due to increased business travel
  • Economic uncertainty impacting businesses
  • MOVEit data breach affecting customer data
Mitigation Strategies
  • Encouraging virtual meetings to reduce travel emissions
  • Assisting businesses with operational efficiency, talent retention, and supply chain management
  • Notifying affected customers and taking steps to resolve the data breach

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • Prioritizing renewable materials for office supplies

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Flood
  • Fire
  • Storms
Transition Risks
  • Reputation
  • Employee turnover
  • Change in consumer sentiment

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: SASB, GRI, TCFD, UN SDGs

UN Sustainable Development Goals

  • Goal 4
  • Goal 8
  • Goal 9
  • Goal 10
  • Goal 11
  • Goal 12
  • Goal 13
  • Goal 16

Initiatives contributing to these goals are detailed throughout the report.