Financial Service Groups Back Biden’s Environmental Justice Drive

Industry groups including the National Bankers Association (NBA) have leant their support to President Joe Biden’s recent executive order on environmental justice.

The executive order, published last week, aims to address the effects of climate change and other environmental issues that overwhelmingly affect low-income households and minorities.

The NBA and other groups — including the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs, the African American Credit Union Coalition, the Community Development Bankers Association, and the Native CDFI Network — said in a statement: “Environmental injustice has long plagued our country, with low-income communities often suffering disproportionately from the impacts of climate change and pollution.

“This order is an important step towards addressing these disparities and the latest in a series of pronouncements from the administration that reinforce their commitment to ensuring every community, regardless of socioeconomic status or background, has access to clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment.”

The Community Builders of Color Coalition, as the organizations are collectively known, said it was “particularly encouraged” by the inclusion of all federal agencies within the executive order, meaning the administration sees “the pursuit of environmental justice as a duty of all federal agencies”.

“This order ensures that the federal government’s efforts are coordinated, comprehensive, and effective in addressing the systemic challenges faced by communities disproportionately impacted by pollution and climate change,” the coalition stated.

Separately, Wells Fargo has partnered with TD Jakes Group to invest up to $1 billion “with the goal of revitalizing neighborhoods, fostering economic opportunity and creating long-term change in communities most in need”, the two companies said.

As well as investing in an existing site in Atlanta, Georgia, run by TD Jakes, the two companies also aim to “provide financial empowerment education and revitalize neighborhoods in underserved low-and moderate-income communities” through helping more people to own their own homes and supporting new businesses.