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January 23, 2003
Green Banking
by William Baue
Ten exemplary "green banking" enterprises were honored recently, highlighting the growth of
environment-friendly community investing.
SocialFunds.com --
Although green is the color of the money involved in most banking transactions in the United
States, traditional banks often do not practice "green banking," or community investing in
environmentally beneficial businesses and nonprofits. However, green banking is becoming more
prevalent. Yesterday ten organizations that best exemplify green banking were honored by the Community Investing Campaign, a joint
project of the Social Investment Forum
(SIF) and Co-op America.
 "We are honoring these ten groups today
because they are outstanding examples of how community investing dollars quite literally can
transform the world in which we live," said Community Investing Campaign Chair Deborah
Momsen-Hudson. Ms. Momsen-Hudson is also Vice President of Durham, North Carolina-based Self-Help Credit Union, one of the
organizations honored. "The organizations singled out for praise today are among hundreds in the
U.S. that are building a better planet through the wise stewardship of community investing
dollars."
The honored organizations include such diverse enterprises as Vermont-based Chittenden Bank, San Francisco-based Rudolf Steiner Foundation, and
Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Permaculture Credit
Union. These and the seven other organizations practice green banking in myriad ways, from
forest preservation to clean water production to eco-tourism.
"Community-based financial
institutions work with low-income individuals earning the minimum wage in North Carolina to
purchase homes, assist impoverished battered women in Texas in opening a community-based shelter,
and provide displaced timber workers in the Pacific Northwest with loans to start successful and
environment-friendly businesses," said Social Investment Forum Foundation President and SIF
Chair-Emeritus David Berge. "In addition to supplying urgently needed capital in under-served
neighborhoods, community investment groups make available key services, such as education,
mentoring and technical support."
Mr. Berge is also president of Underdog Ventures, which was also singled out for its
green community investment through venture capital funds. The related Underdog Foundation
illustrates this provision of additional services. Underdog Ventures' investors and invested
companies donate portions of their returns to the foundation. The foundation uses the funds to
provide communities with grants, mentoring, and technical assistance.
Another honoree,
Washington- and Oregon-based ShoreBank
Pacific, distinguishes itself as the first environmental bank in the United States. To advance
the environmental sustainability of the companies and projects it supports, ShoreBank employs a
full-time staff scientist who advises borrowers on efficient energy use, waste and pollution
reduction, and natural resource conservation. One such company, Portland, Oregon-based Century West,
specializes in sustainable engineering, such as developing fish-friendly hydropower.
"Before I came to ShoreBank Pacific, I had been bounced around by larger banks who did not seem
to care about my business and what I was trying to accomplish," said Century West President Ned
Dempsey. "Working in sustainable development, I needed to find a banking solution that understood
my goals and my business. ShoreBank Pacific recognized that and worked with me to develop a plan to
help my company and, more importantly, the planet."
Other sustainable companies have
benefited from green banking services offered by the honorees. Chittenden Bank provided loans to
furniture handcrafters Bruce Beeken and Jeff Parsons of Shelburne, Vermont. Spurning the wasteful
lumbering practice of sawing logs from the outside in and discarding of the heart, Beeken Parsons uses "character wood" harvested
from sustainably managed forests, which highlights the knotty beauty of the tree's core.
Other green banking honorees include Coastal
Enterprises of Wiscasset, Maine; Vermont
Community Loan Fund of Montpelier; Wainwright Bank & Trust Company of Boston; and Sustainable Jobs Fund of
Durham, North Carolina.
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SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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