Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2022 Program

Emily Cruz ’22
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Certificate in Environmental Studies
THESIS TITLE
Modeling the Carbon
Emissions of Financing
Policies of Major
Financial Institutions
ADVISERS
Chris Greig, Theodora
D. ’78 & William H.
Walton III ’74 Senior
Research Scientist in
the Andlinger Center for
Energy and the
Environment; Ian
Bourg, Assistant
Professor of Civil and
Environmental
Engineering and the
High Meadows
Environmental Institute
My research evaluated how the policies of
financial institutions regarding fossil fuel
industries and sustainability ventures may
influence these institutions' future carbon
emissions. Financial institutions are key to
bringing global carbon emissions to net-zero
by 2050 because their financing will directly
influence the future energy mix. Many financial
institutions have touted net-zero goals and
instituted policies that include divesting from
fossil fuels, committing to invest in renewableenergy
products, and allowing consumers to
invest in more sustainable or renewable ventures.
I compiled data on bank policies from the
Rainforest Action Network’s “Banking on Climate
Chaos” report to model future financing for fossil
fuel industries, as well as collect and visualize
cumulative sustainability commitments. My
models projected that the banks I analyzed
will likely increase fossil fuel investments,
particularly in fossil fuel companies expanding
their production or utilization of fossil fuels.
There was, however, a slight projected decrease
in some banks’ carbon emissions intensity,
likely due to the change in the type of fossil fuel
invested in over time. This research highlighted
the importance of having strict guidance for
banks' fossil fuel financing that ensures the
implementation of policies that will reach 2050
net-zero goals rather than policies that amount to
“greenwashing.”
ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICY AND SOCIETY
18