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Two credit unions announced last Thursday that they made donations with the specific goal of combatting climate change.
The $9 billion OnPoint Community Credit Union in Portland, Ore., gave $226,750 to The Nature Conservancy in Oregon (TNC), a 60-year-old organization focused on land and water conservation. The donation will support critical TNC projects including increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration, employing adaptation strategies to ensure vibrant and resilient coastal communities and sustainable fisheries, and protecting existing soil and underground carbon in Eastern Oregon, according to OnPoint Community.
"We are at a critical point for the future of the planet," Jim Desmond, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Oregon, said. "The Nature Conservancy works on a large scale, both around the world and in communities across the state. We cannot accomplish our goals alone, and support from OnPoint and its members is critical and timely."
OnPoint Community's donation coincided with the conclusion of a pledge to donate up to $250 to TNC for every Green Auto Discount loan it approved from Feb. 1 to Nov. 1, 2021. The Green Auto Discount loan program enabled members to receive 0.25% APR off a new loan for a new or used electric or hybrid vehicle. The credit union financed over 1,400 such loans during the donation pledge time period. OnPoint Community also offers a Solar Panel Discount, which allows consumers who fix a portion of their Equity Flex Line of Credit to purchase solar panels to receive 0.25% APR off the EquityFlex Fixed Portion.
"Getting more people into electric and hybrid vehicles is a vital step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Pacific Northwest," OnPoint Community President/CEO Rob Stuart stated. "Affordability has historically been a barrier to owning these vehicles, so our goal is to make going green and supporting organizations combatting climate change accessible to as many people as possible."
In Missoula, Mont., the $854 million Clearwater Credit Union distributed $50,000 to six local non-profits dedicated to mitigating the effects of climate change. The donation was timed to coincide with the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, according to the credit union.
The six Montana-based recipients of the funds were the Montana Environmental Information Center in Helena, the Northern Plains Resource Council in Billings, Montana Conservation Voters in Billings, the National Center for Appropriate Technology in Butte, Climate Smart Missoula and Families for a Livable Climate in Missoula.
"We know this bit of philanthropy is small relative to the scale of the problem," Clearwater President/CEO Jack Lawson stated. "Nonetheless, we hope it signals serious intent. The threat climate change poses to our health and well-being could not be more real. At the same time, the economic opportunities presented by taking action to combat it are huge. Banks and credit unions need to get in the lead here. After all, it is our lending activity that should be supporting the energy transformation we all need. If you've got a renewable, efficiency, sequestration or conservation project – whether for home or business – talk to us. We want to be a part of it."
Clearwater said its additional efforts to combat climate change include measuring its own greenhouse gas emissions annually, reducing these emissions with renewable energy and energy efficiency, and going carbon neutral in 2020 – something it achieved in part by using carbon offsets generated by funding energy efficiency in a local affordable housing project. The credit union also acted as a partner in the development of the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, a tool for financial institutions to measure the greenhouse gas impacts of their balance sheets.
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
