Switch to Triodos, a climate friendly bank

Right now, your savings are probably funding fossil fuels. Every year, banks loan billions (nearly trillions) of dollars to fossil fuel companies to finance pipelines, oil wells, and coal plants. It's messed up and shocking—they are using your money to destroy the planet.

Most major banks finance fossil fuels, but not every bank finances fossil fuels. You can search for your bank on websites like BankTrack to see how it invests your money. The good news is that switching to a climate friendly bank doesn’t cost any money, the interest rates and perks are just as good, and their digital products are way better than established banks.

About Triodos

Triodos Bank and its investment funds finance companies that increase the use of renewable resources in particular and supports projects that promote energy efficiency.

In 2020, Triodos financed 561 projects in the energy sector, including over 400 renewable energy projects. Thanks to these investments, Triodos and their customers helped avoid 0.9 million tonnes of CO2. Besides being good for the planet, they're well established — they've been around since 1980 and have over 700,000 customers in Belgium, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Spain. You can view their annual report from 2020 here.

Signing up for a new bank might seem intimidating, but the way we switched to our American green banks made it feel easy. We started by making an account and depositing $100 just to check it. Then, we transferred more money in and tried out their debit card with Apple Pay. Once we felt good about it, we transferred more money over and used it as our main savings account and main debit card. Today, we all still have our old bank accounts when we need any services that our green bank doesn’t offer, but we rely on them less and less.

Additional Reading

Guide · Stop the Money Pipeline

Align your money with your values: a guide to find fossil free banking options

News Article · CNBC

60 largest banks in the world have invested $3.8 trillion in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement