The fossil fuel divestment movement has scored some big wins recently but—to be truly effective—divestment from the bad stuff needs to be paired with increased investment in the good stuff.
From Triodos Bank in Europe to Mosaic's crowdfunding platform for solar, we've covered several companies and institutions that aim to help individuals move their money to the light side. Now there is another one to add to the list:
The just launched Clean Energy Credit Union is an online-only, member-owned, federally-insured financial institution that specializes in providing loans that help people afford low carbon products and services such as solar electric systems, electric vehicles, home energy efficiency retrofits, and net-zero energy homes. Lloyd—who has long argued that support for electric cars would be more effective if channeled into support for bikes and e-bikes—will be delighted to learn that the credit union will also offer competitive loans for electric-assist bicycles too.
CEO Terri Michelsen says that the decision to remain online-only is a deliberate play that should help keep costs down, and help the credit union deliver on its core mission of advancing the low carbon transition:
“Our prospective members are largely tech-savvy and comfortable with online transactions, and we believe that they’ll benefit from lower interest rates on their clean energy loans more than they would from the availability of branch offices.”
Currently, the credit union offers savings accounts and CDs, but there are plans afoot to offer checking accounts, debit cards, credit cards, and green home mortgages starting in 2019.
Introducing Clean Energy Credit Union from Blake Jones on Vimeo.
