Brandee McHale
Director, Corporate Citizenship, Citi and President, Citi Foundation

Representing UNEP FI member: Citigroup (USA)

Connect with Brandee McHale on LinkedIn

MOTIVATION STATEMENT

As UNEP FI celebrates its 25th anniversary and its many achievements to date, we must think ahead to its next 25 years. Significant progress has been made in sustainable finance but there is still a long road ahead to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We need to deepen collaboration among financial institutions as well as across industries.  I will be a strong ally to advancing UNEP FI’s strategy and initiatives, including Positive Impact and TCFD. Both initiatives offer opportunities for learning and engagement across UNEP FI’s three industry groups.

Citi recognizes that we cannot build a more sustainable world on our own. It is critical that we partner with organizations like UNEP FI, peer institutions, clients and other stakeholders that share our vision.  Citi has been a strong proponent of sustainable finance for two decades.  We are a longstanding member of UNEP FI, having joined in 1997.  Citi also has a long history of collaborating to build the sustainable finance field: we co-founded the Equator Principles in 2003 and the Green Bond Principles in 2014, and joined the Natural Capital Finance Alliance in 2015.  I would welcome the opportunity to continue this important work on behalf of Citi, by taking on a greater role in engaging with UNEP FI and its members to address climate risks and promote a more inclusive and sustainable global economy.

Lastly, as an executive at a global bank based in North America, I am uniquely positioned to champion the UN’s vision within North America, while maintaining a global perspective.  I will look to connect the activities within our region to sustainable finance initiatives taking place across regions, to help UNEP FI achieve its goals.

BACKGROUND

As an experienced corporate social responsibility and sustainability executive at Citi, I lead the bank’s efforts to expand and deepen our commitment to sustainable finance.  To further this commitment, I would welcome the opportunity to strengthen Citi’s engagement with UNEP FI through its Global Steering Committee to collectively advance its important mission of promoting sustainable finance.  Currently, I am Citi’s Director of Corporate Citizenship, with responsibilities for both Citi’s Corporate Sustainability and Environmental and Social Risk Management teams.  In this capacity, I help set Citi’s sustainability strategy, titled “Sustainable Progress,” and guide its global implementation across the company.  Under my leadership, we are further embedding sustainability into our core businesses by expanding our environmental finance activities and developing innovative sustainable financing solutions; establishing enhanced environmental and social risk due diligence for our financing activities; and reducing Citi’s environmental footprint globally.

Citi’s mission as a company is to enable growth and progress and a key component to meeting our mission is engaging in finance that is responsible and sustainable.  Climate change and its impacts – from increasing resource scarcity to pressures on land, water and forests – are some of the greatest challenges that we face as a society today.  I am deeply committed to leveraging Citi’s core business activities to help address these global challenges and promote sustainable growth and progress. I work with my teams and many of Citi’s businesses to ensure that our policies take into account environmental and social issues, including human rights, and that we consider climate change risks and opportunities in our financing activities. Furthermore, we encourage the use of green financial products to help our clients meet their own sustainability goals and commitments and share our expertise on how environmental and social issues intersect with global finance.