Climate Change Data

Forbright Bank

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

Reporting Period: 2021

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:396.8 tCO2e/year
Scope 1 Emissions:17.5 tCO2e/year
Scope 2 Emissions:79.1 tCO2e/year
Scope 3 Emissions:300.3 tCO2e/year
Total Energy Consumption:231,017 KWh/year

ESG Focus Areas

  • Sustainable Finance
  • Employee, Supplier, and Board Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Employee Engagement and Growth
  • Financial Inclusion
  • Community Reinvestment Act
  • Data Security & Privacy
  • Incorporation of ESG Factors in Credit Underwriting and Analysis
  • Environmental Footprint of Operations and Loan Portfolio
  • Business Ethics
  • Systemic Risk Management

Environmental Achievements

  • Achieved carbon neutrality in our operational footprint for the first time in 2021
  • Recycled ~100% of electronic waste using certified responsible vendors
  • Maintained LEED® certification in 64% of our space

Social Achievements

  • More than doubled corporate charitable giving between 2020 and 2021
  • Offered $2,000 to employees that install solar panels on their home and lease or purchase an electric vehicle
  • Attracted diverse new hires, with 43% of new hires during 2021 self-identifying as racially or ethnically diverse

Governance Achievements

  • Became the seventh U.S. bank signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking

Climate Goals & Targets

Long-term Goals:
  • Dedicate 50% of our portfolio to Sustainable Finance by 2025
Medium-term Goals:
  • Voluntarily report in alignment with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (2024)
  • Increase employee training hours by 15% (2025)
  • Achieve an average of eight volunteer hours per employee (2023)
  • Offer free financial literacy workshops to customers or prospective unbanked/ underbanked customers semi-annually (2023)
  • Launch digital green savings account using our Green Financing Framework (2022)
Short-term Goals:
  • Publish Environmental Policy (2022)
  • Shift electricity usage to renewable energy where possible and purchase renewable energy credits where solar opt-in programs are not available (2022)
  • Distribute first employee engagement survey (2022)
  • Develop pay equity calculation and analysis (2022)
  • Maintain diverse and small business vendor spend > 10% (2022)
  • Tie executive compensation to ESG metrics (2022)
  • Increase corporate donations to > 2.5x our 2021 contribution amount (2022)

Environmental Challenges

  • Supply chain disruptions due to climate events (implied)
  • Data security risks, particularly spear phishing and password spraying
Mitigation Strategies
  • Developed alternative sourcing strategies (implied)
  • Implemented programs to identify and address data security risks aligned to the NIST 800-53 controls framework
  • Regularly evaluate and implement technologies to reduce the attack surface and move towards a security posture based on the principles of a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA)

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • Tracking of women-owned, minority-owned, and small business vendors

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: SASB, TCFD, UN Sustainable Development Goals, UN Principles for Responsible Banking, Greenhouse Gas Protocol

Certifications: LEED®

Sustainable Products & Innovation

  • Green Bond

Reporting Period: 2022

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:4,574 tCO2e
Scope 1 Emissions:13 tCO2e
Scope 2 Emissions:117 tCO2e
Scope 3 Emissions:4,444 tCO2e
Total Energy Consumption:422,182 kWh
Waste Generated:7,081 pounds of food waste diverted
Carbon Intensity:5.0 tCO2e/million USD of revenue

ESG Focus Areas

  • Sustainable Finance
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Workforce Diversity & Inclusion
  • Community Investment
  • Strong Governance

Environmental Achievements

  • Maintained carbon neutrality of operational footprint
  • Published Environmental Policy
  • Maintained LEED® certification in 65% of office space
  • Added two new employee sustainability incentives
  • Diverted 7,081 pounds of food waste from landfill through composting

Social Achievements

  • 36% employee growth rate with 188 new hires (41% women, 46% racially or ethnically diverse)
  • 79% favorable employee engagement score (vs. 70% industry average)
  • No bias to gender or race found in 2022 pay equity analysis
  • 1,305 hours of employee volunteering
  • $560K provided to 60 local non-profit organizations

Governance Achievements

  • 83% and 91% of Board Directors are independent on Forbright Bank and Forbright, Inc. Boards, respectively
  • 17.9% of total supplier spend with diverse and small businesses
  • Implemented a formal materiality assessment to identify and prioritize sustainability risks and opportunities

Climate Goals & Targets

Long-term Goals:
  • Voluntarily report in alignment with TCFD
  • Launch digital green savings account for consumers
Medium-term Goals:
  • Achieve eight volunteer hours per employee
  • Contribute $1MM to non-profits
  • Increase employee training hours by 15% above 2021 baseline
  • Roll out a mentorship program for new hires
  • Launch Corporate Green Deposit product
Short-term Goals:
  • Formalize emissions reduction strategy for operational carbon footprint
  • Host environmentally-focused employee volunteer event
  • Host inaugural Sustainability Fair
  • Offer unconscious bias training to employees
  • Launch first Employee Resource Group

Environmental Challenges

  • Limited control over power purchasing agreements in leased office spaces, hindering direct renewable energy sourcing.
  • Challenges in adequately capturing, reporting on, mitigating, and minimizing the environmental impact of financing activities.
  • Need to refine executive compensation to tie it to ESG metrics.
Mitigation Strategies
  • Purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) where direct renewable energy is unavailable.
  • Completing first Scope 3 financed emissions calculation to inform emissions reduction strategy.
  • Establishing a cross-functional Climate Risk Working Group to strengthen climate risk considerations across lending.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • Tracking of women-owned, minority-owned, and small business vendors

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Opportunities
  • Growth in sustainable finance

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: SASB Standards, TCFD, UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB)

Certifications: LEED, Green America

Sustainable Products & Innovation

  • Green Bond
  • Online Certificate of Deposit (2023)
  • Planned Corporate Green Deposit Product (2023)
  • Planned consumer green savings account (2024)

Awards & Recognition

  • Best Workplaces for Commuters

Reporting Period: 2023

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:6,168 tCO2e/year
Scope 1 Emissions:30 tCO2e/year
Scope 2 Emissions:87 tCO2e/year
Scope 3 Emissions:6,051 tCO2e/year
Total Energy Consumption:299,106 kWh/year
Waste Generated:9,273 pounds/year (food waste diverted)
Carbon Intensity:18.7 tCO2e/million USD of revenue, 13.0 tCO2e/FTE, 8.7 tCO2e/100 sq. ft.

ESG Focus Areas

  • Sustainable finance
  • Loan portfolio footprint
  • Human capital management
  • Business ethics
  • Financial inclusion
  • ESG factors in credit underwriting
  • Cybersecurity
  • Community Reinvestment Act efforts

Environmental Achievements

  • Maintained carbon-neutral operations for the third year in a row
  • Formalized strategy to minimize operational GHG emissions
  • Avoided ~7 hours metric tons of estimated annual GHG emissions through renewable energy and energy efficiency-related projects
  • Launched first Institutional Green Deposit product

Social Achievements

  • Launched first Employee Resource Group
  • Offered unconscious bias training to employees
  • Provided $1MM in corporate contributions to nonprofits
  • 47% of new hires self-identified as racially or ethnically diverse
  • 55% of new hires self-identified as women
  • ~3,000 total hours volunteered by employees

Governance Achievements

  • Progress towards the Company's sustainability goals was added as a component of executive compensation plans
  • 90% of Forbright Bank’s Board Directors are independent
  • 14% of total supplier spend is with diverse and small businesses
  • 100% completion of annual regulatory and compliance training

Climate Goals & Targets

Long-term Goals:
  • Not disclosed
Medium-term Goals:
  • Achieve 10 reported development training hours per employee by 2025
Short-term Goals:
  • Achieve 100% completion of annual regulatory and compliance training by 2024
  • Reach >90% of new Growth Savings depositors opted into paperless statements by 2025

Environmental Challenges

  • Increased GHG emissions due to employee base growth, increased purchased goods and services, and normalized post-COVID business travel
  • Limited control over power purchase agreements in some office locations
  • Challenges in capturing, reporting on, mitigating, and minimizing the environmental impact of financing activities
Mitigation Strategies
  • Shifting to greater renewable energy use
  • Investing in projects that protect the environment and offset operational GHG emissions
  • Engaging in various energy-saving initiatives
  • Purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs)
  • Purchasing certified carbon offsets
  • Formalizing long-term strategy to reduce overall carbon footprint
  • Evaluating Scope 3 GHG emissions of financing activities

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement
  • Tracking women-owned, minority-owned, and small business vendors
  • 14% of overall spending with diverse and small businesses

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Extreme weather events
  • Flooding
Transition Risks
  • Market shifts
  • Regulatory changes
  • Reputational risk
Opportunities
  • Increased consumer demand for climate-responsible banking
  • Growth in sustainable products and services
  • Enhanced resilience through proactive adaptation

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: SASB Standards (now part of IFRS Foundation), TCFD (now part of ISSB Standards), UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB)

Certifications: LEED, ENERGY STAR, Green America, Maryland Green Registry, Fossil Free

UN Sustainable Development Goals

  • SDG 1
  • SDG 3
  • SDG 7
  • SDG 10
  • SDG 11
  • SDG 12
  • SDG 13

Impact focus areas (environmental sustainability, affordable housing, and healthcare access) align with these SDGs

Sustainable Products & Innovation

  • Institutional Green Deposit account
  • Online Certificate of Deposit (CD)
  • Forbright Bank Growth Savings

Awards & Recognition

  • Top Workplaces 2023
  • 2023 Best Banks to Work For