Wells Fargo Company: The Number One US Green Energy Purchaser
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 02. 1.07
The US Environmental Protection Agency maintains a list of the "Top 25 Partners in the Green Power Partnership whose annual green power purchase is the largest nationwide". A financial services company known by its centuries-old stage coach logo, Wells Fargo is still getting the green in on time, with Whole Foods right behind. EPA says about all organizations on the top 25:- "Their actions are helping drive the development of new renewable energy sources for electricity generation. Combined, these purchases amount to almost 4.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, which is approximately 60 percent of the green power commitments made by all Partners. These Top 25 Partners provide an example to their peers, customers, and community". The full Top-25 list is show below, in rank order:
=== UPDATE ===
See earlier TreeHugger post on Wells Fargo Bank here: serving as a reminder that improvement comes one step at a time.
Surely some of you reading this are thinking "where's the competitive advantage in spending more money for electricity than the competition." We address this thought with a current example: Merrill Lynch as whipping boy in an impending climate crisis*. Coal's sulferous vapors blacken even Wall Street's finest silver.
For you Top-25'ers, or even for those of you bringing up the rear: if doing business down Texas way, you may want to hire someone like this guy to ride shotgun. The coal coach is closing in fast. If you let it pass, Adam Smith's hand will wilt in the smog that ensues.
1. Wells Fargo & Company
2. Whole Foods Market
3. U.S. Air Force
4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
5. Johnson & Johnson
6. Starbucks
7. DuPont Company
8. U.S. Department of Energy
9. Vail Resorts
10. HSBC North America
11. Cisco Systems, Inc.12. Staples
13. New York University
14. The World Bank Group
15. University of Pennsylvania
16. IBM Corporation
17. Carbonfund.org
18. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
19. NatureWorks LLC
20. Sprint Nextel
21. Safeway Inc.
22. Pennsylvania State University
23. Kohl's Department Stores
24. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
25. The Tower Companies
Image credit: - "Uphill Stage" William Thompson, Wells Fargo Advertising Campaign
*Footnote: The chemical industry and US consumers at large are joint stakeholders in Texas' coal-fired generation capacity expansion issue. Currently, much of Texas' electrity comes from natural gas fired generators. Texas also is host to a large petrochemical industry base: you know - the companies that make plastics like PET, PE, and HDPE, often with natural gas as the basic raw material and energy input. In theory, at least, using coal to add to, or supplant, electrical generating capacity would loosen natural gas supplies. Without some means to slow gas consumption in other sectors, the US commodity chemical industry is increasingly vulnerable to competition from nations with gas aplenty. Somehow, electricity conservation and plastics recycling don't come up as long term solutions to the resource depletion problem. And then there is the whole matter of throw-away water bottles.
Are Wells Fargo's green energy purchases bankrolled by predatory lending practices?