SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) announced today that the company invested nearly $67 billion in lending capital and grants during 2016 toward achieving its 2020 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals that were set last year to help create solutions to address global challenges and strengthen communities. Wells Fargo’s 2016 CSR Interim Report, released today, details the company’s performance and progress in addressing three areas of strategic focus: advancing diversity and social inclusion, creating economic opportunities in underserved communities, and accelerating the transition to a lower-carbon economy and a healthier planet.

Among other accomplishments, last year the company invested $17.6 billion in financing for clean technology and other environmentally sustainable businesses; $38 million in grants and lending capital to help diverse small business grow; $49 billion in new mortgages for minority and low- and moderate-income households; $50 million in the Neighborhood LIFT® program; and $281.3 million in grants to 14,500 nonprofits.

“Wells Fargo has made strong progress toward achieving our 2020 CSR goals through significant investments in philanthropic giving, advances in products and services, and strengthening our operations and culture,” said Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan. “Our top priority is rebuilding trust, and our CSR efforts are essential to helping us build a better bank for the future. Though more work lies ahead, we are fully committed to making every community in which we do business better through an integrated, company-wide CSR strategy to address global social, economic, and environmental challenges.”

Wells Fargo’s approach to CSR reflects the company’s longstanding commitment to strengthening and delivering practical solutions for the customers and communities it serves. The 2020 CSR goals announced last year include objectives for supplier diversity, philanthropy, environmental financing, community development investments, and volunteer hours. Last month, Sloan reinforced the company’s commitment to corporate citizenship as one of six long-term goals for the company.

Following are highlights from Wells Fargo’s 2016 interim CSR report:

Philanthropy

• Wells Fargo donated $281.3 million to 14,500 nonprofits and community organizations in 2016, including $139.9 million to organizations aligned with our social, economic, and environmental strategic philanthropy priorities. The company is on track to donate more than $665 million in corporate philanthropic giving to nonprofits in these three areas by 2020.
• In 2016, Wells Fargo invested $50 million in LIFT programs, for a total of $327 million in down payment assistance and support since 2012. Through LIFT, the company has created 12,900 new homeowners in 48 low- and moderate-income communities and expects to exceed its goal of creating 15,000 new homeowners through LIFT programs by 2020.
• Wells Fargo has donated more than $75 million to support returning military veterans and their families through stable housing, career transition, and financial education programs (2012-2016). Over that period, the company also donated more than 300 homes to military veterans in all 50 states.

Products and services

• Wells Fargo provided $35 billion in mortgages to minority households and $14 billion in mortgages to low- and moderate-income households in 2016. The company is on track to meet its goal of addressing lagging homeownership rates by originating a combined $220 billion in new mortgages for these communities between 2016 and 2020.
• The Wells Fargo Works for Small Business®: Diverse Community Capital program distributed $38 million in grants and lending capital to 30 Community Development Financial Institutions serving diverse small businesses during 2016 – more than halfway to the goal of providing $75 million by 2018.
• In 2016, Wells Fargo financed $17.6 billion in renewable energy, clean technology, and other sustainable businesses — up from $15 billion in 2015 — and bringing our total environmental financing to more than $70 billion since 2012. More than 8 percent of all wind and solar energy generated in the U.S. in 2016 came from projects owned wholly or in part by Wells Fargo.

Operations and culture

• In 2016, the company engaged and developed diverse businesses, spending $1.1 billion with diverse suppliers, or 11.9 percent of our controllable procurement budget. This puts the company on track to meet our goal of spending 15 percent of our controllable procurement budget with diverse suppliers by 2020.
• The company improved its operational efficiency, achieving among other metrics, a 36 percent reduction in absolute greenhouse gas emissions and a 52% increase in water efficiency from the 2008 baselines, putting Wells Fargo on track to meet efficiency goals of 45 percent and 65 percent, respectively, by 2020.
• Wells Fargo increased volunteer group participation by 13 percent over 2015, which is nearly halfway to the goal of a 30 percent increase by 2020. In addition, team members volunteered 1.73 million hours to nonprofits, putting the company on track to meet or exceed a goal of 8.5 million volunteer hours by 2020.

“It is our hope that our ongoing work to address these and other challenges in our business and our communities illustrates Wells Fargo’s sincere commitment to actively and authentically take action on the principles of corporate citizenship throughout our business,” said Jon Campbell, Wells Fargo’s director of Government and Community Relations. Read more from Campbell at stories.wf.com/continuing-commitment-creating-stronger-communities/.

For more information about Wells Fargo’s 2020 goals and progress, visit https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate-responsibility/.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $2.0 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,500 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 273,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 27 on Fortune’s 2016 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

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