Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) announced plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2018, compared to a 2008 baseline.
Wells Fargo joined the EPA’s “Climate Leaders” program, plans to install solar systems on 10 of its retail banking locations in Denver, according to their press release. The solar photovoltaic cells are expected to generate a combined 300,000 kilowatt hours annually. Instead of retaining the energy for internal use, the company plans to sell the electricity that’s generated as renewable energy credits, according to a company spokeswoman.
This isn’t the only environmental play that Wells Fargo is making. With its recent acquisition of Wachovia, it picked up 16 branches that have attained “LEED” status by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The company has also purchased more energy efficient office equipment and is evaluating the energy consumption of its various suppliers. The bank is also looking at its power-hungry data centers and looking for ways to reduce their power consumption. Finally, the bank is installing light sensors to reduce energy usage in some of its facilities.
Wells Fargo has made great strides to cut its own internal energy usage and it’s also helping develop clean energy sources by providing financing for 150 commercial-scale solar projects for various other companies. Electricity generated from those installations is typically sold as renewable energy credits. Back in 2006, Wells Fargo announced that it had committed to using 40% of its total power consumption as renewable energy credits.
