Frontline Colleagues to Engage Clients on Transition To Lower-Carbon Economy

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG or “Citizens”) today announced a $50 billion Sustainable Finance Target including $5 billion in green financing, by 2030. The company also announced that it will engage corporate clients in high-emitting sectors on climate-related topics. To start, it will engage 100% of its Oil & Gas clients by the end of 2024. In addition, Citizens has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.

“Our approach to sustainability is grounded in the Citizens Credo, uniting our values and purpose while creating opportunity to use our reach, innovation, and insights to position those we serve for long-term success," said Bruce Van Saun, Citizens Chairman and CEO. “This includes working to ensure that our colleagues are ready to help our clients prepare for and finance their own transitions to a lower-carbon economy.”

Supporting Sustainable Solutions

To contribute to a more sustainable future, Citizens’ Target will finance and facilitate environmental and social initiatives. This includes affordable housing, support for small businesses, and community development projects. It also encompasses $5 billion in financing and facilitation for green initiatives that support a lower-carbon future such as renewable energy, clean technologies, and green buildings. Citizens recently published its Approach to Sustainable Finance which outlines its methodology for tracking progress against its Sustainable Finance Target.

Helping Clients Transition to a Sustainable Future

As a trusted advisor for its clients, Citizens is committed to supporting clients wherever they are on their sustainability journeys and will ensure that 100% of its Commercial and Business Banking colleagues are prepared to engage with clients on climate-related topics. This will help them leverage the opportunities, meet stakeholder expectations, and manage risk. The bank’s culture of innovation is driving new solutions toward sustainability-linked products for clients. For example, the Citizens’ Sustainable Deposits and Carbon Offset Deposit Account products allow clients to incorporate their sustainability goals into their banking strategies.

Citizens, which recently accelerated its private banking strategy driving growth in the wealth management space, will also continue to ensure colleagues are versed in ESG-integrated, ESG-focused, and impact-focused investment products.

“In developing this commitment, we took a methodical, customer and client-centered approach, that includes detailed disclosures and reporting to ensure overall success,” said Beth Johnson, Citizens Vice Chair, Chief Experience Officer, and Head of ESG. “Through our efforts we will continue to maximize impact for our colleagues, clients, customers, and other stakeholders.”

Minimizing Citizens’ Environmental Impact

Citizens continues to make progress on its operational sustainability efforts and today, announces its intention to be carbon neutral by 2035. Citizens set Scope 1 and 2 emissions targets in 2021 that will be achieved through ongoing energy conservation investments and energy reduction initiatives across the company’s footprint. By 2035, Citizens is targeting to offset the remaining Scope 1 and 2 emissions through high-quality offsets and renewable energy credits. Last year, Citizens entered into a virtual power purchase agreement with Ørsted that supports the construction of a wind generation facility in Kansas, demonstrating Citizens’ commitment to renewable energy as a key part of its transition to a lower-carbon economy.

Citizens is committed to providing disclosures related to its progress, and recently released its ESG Report, TCFD Report, CDP Climate Response and an Environmental & Social Risk Management Statement.

For more information on the bank’s overall ESG efforts, click here.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $223.1 billion in assets as of June 30, 2023. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a full-service customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,400 ATMs and approximately 1,100 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. More information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statement that does not describe historical or current facts is a forward-looking statement. These statements often include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “plans,” “goals,” “targets,” “initiatives,” “potentially,” “probably,” “projects,” “outlook,” “guidance” or similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” and “could.” Forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management, and on information currently available to management. Our statements speak as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update these statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those contained in such statements in light of new information or future events. We caution you, therefore, against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. They are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. More information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.

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