Fifth Third Bank appointed Michele Mullins the company’s first climate risk officer. The role expands Mullins’ duties as director of enterprise risk governance and business support and reflects the bank’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

“With a proven track record of establishing appropriate procedures, testing for adherence to policies, identifying and monitoring key performance indicators and mitigating risk, Michele is well suited to lead Fifth Third’s efforts to actively manage climate risk,” Greg Carmichael, chairman and CEO of Fifth Third, said.

In nearly 20 years with Fifth Third, Mullins has served in a variety of management roles in risk and in the commercial line of business. She will retain her responsibilities in enterprise risk governance and business support. This new role gives Mullins responsibility for partnering across the enterprise to identify and gauge physical and transition risks related to climate change in order to assess and mitigate them effectively.

Her responsibilities will include benchmarking with peer firms and ensuring Fifth Third remains aligned with industry trends, including the bank’s efforts around publishing the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) report. As director of enterprise and climate risk governance and business support, Mullins will continue to report to Bob Shaffer, executive vice president and chief risk officer at Fifth Third.

Fifth Third achieved carbon neutrality for its own 2020 operations (Scope 1, Scope 2 and business travel under Scope 3). The bank also joined the Ceres Company Network and committed to measuring and ultimately reducing emissions in certain client portfolios, which it aided by joining the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials.

Fifth Third unveiled six bold sustainability goals over the last few years, including announcing a five-year, $8 billion sustainable finance goal in 2020. It has already achieved three of the five other goals: using 100% renewable power, reducing water use by 20% and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25%. In addition to these goals, Fifth Third maintained its A- Climate Leadership Score from CDP in 2020 and established a national renewable energy finance center of excellence in 2018. Fifth Third aligns its work in environmental sustainability to the United Nations Sustainable Finance Goal No. 13 Climate Action.