From the outside looking in, sustainable finance in North America seems to act much like a see-saw. Last year, news about the wave of anti-environmental, social and governance legislation coming from Republican states was immediately followed by $500 billion of financial incentives for clean energy and healthcare under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This was then followed by concerns over gridlock when the Republicans took control of the House.
Meanwhile in Canada, wildfires and oil leaks threaten the livelihoods of indigenous people and are polarizing the debate around hydrocarbon exports just as European countries turn to the country for non-Russian energy supply.
In this difficult context, Bank of America has done well to stay the course, deploying more sustainable capital than most. Since the 2021 announcement of its goal to deploy $1.5 trillion in sustainable finance capital by 2030, BofA has mobilized a cumulative total of $410 billion in sustainable finance, $160 billion of this in 2022.
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