A trio of international environmental groups focused on the banking sector — Climate Safe Lending Network (CSLN), Topo Finance (TOPO) and BankFWD — collaborated to develop “The Carbon Bankroll 1.0: The Climate Impact and Untapped Power of Corporate Cash.” This report and its groundbreaking research make it possible to understand ​​for the first time the scale of emissions generated by large organizations’ “financial supply chain.” When large companies’ and corporations’ cash and investments are held in large financial institutions, these banks can use the funds to finance fossil fuel projects. “The Carbon Bankroll” methodology calculated the emissions of several large tech companies, including the impact their financial practices can have on their previously reported emissions. Spitfire Strategies partnered with TOPO (formerly known as The Outdoor Policy Outfit) to create a communications strategy centered on the global release of the report and to expand the outreach to its priority audiences.

The report authors and partners aimed to:

  • Have corporate leaders see their banking practices as a strategic sustainability tool and a massive opportunity in improving the climate crisis.
  • Partner with large companies and corporations to put pressure on their large financial institutions to change their carbon-heavy investment practices.
  • Position themselves as leaders in this effort so that they can work to support corporate and financial leaders as they address their financial supply chain.

To help TOPO and its partners effectively communicate the right messages to their priority audiences and  tell a unified story, Spitfire:

  • Created a message guide for spokespeople and partners, including an FAQ to make the case for the importance of using financial supply chains to address the climate crisis. 
  • Used messaging to prep spokespeople from CSLN, TOPO, BankFWD and Amalgamated Bank’s spokespeople.
  • Designed a media strategy to offer journalists an embargoed copy of the ground-breaking report so they could cover the report in the depth needed. Created a digital toolkit with infographics; sample posts; and a list of handles and key hashtags for X, LinkedIn and Instagram, which helped internal and external partners amplify the report to their climate, business and financial audiences via social media and newsletters.

To position TOPO nad the report for launch, Spitfire facilitated a live business briefing and podcast in collaboration with Business Forward, an independent research and education organization that takes a business-minded look at policy issues affecting America’s economic competitiveness. We strategically scheduled the briefing for the day before the report’s launch to tease the report’s findings. This way, invited companies — big and small — were able to learn about what was to come, hear the solutions that the report authors offered, and be prepared for the influx of reporter and stakeholder inquiries. The briefing allowed business leaders to ask questions and enabled the report authors and partners to offer their support to companies interested in working to decarbonize their financial assets. This also gave companies in attendance the opportunity to prepare before the first media was posted.

More than a dozen outlets – including The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Quartz, American Banker, Fast Company, Protocol, Edie, Business Green, The Verge, Bloomberg, CleanTechnica (twice), Yale Climate Connections, Cointelegraph and Boing Boing covered “The Carbon Bankroll.” The report also garnered social media traction: One of the posts on X by Bill McKibben (renowned environmentalist, author and journalist who wrote The New Yorker article) was shared more than 1,300 times, quoted more than 150 times and liked more than 2,700 times. His additional posts on the report have garnered more than 500 shares and 900 likes. In its first five days, the microsite where the report was initially available had 3,400 visitors, 4,200 pageviews and 1,000 report downloads.

Our work helped elevate TOPO’s role as a leader in sustainable finance, a momentum that has since garnered global recognition with the nonprofit winning the Keeling Curve Prize. The Global Warming Mitigation project awards this prize to acknowledge projects around the world that are making significant strides in addressing climate change and advancing decarbonization efforts.

Through this effort, Spitfire combined the collective power of TOPO, CSLN, BankFWD, BusinessFWD, corporate leaders and climate leaders to execute a successful report launch that will continue to have positive implications for our planet for years to come.