Citi, a leading investment bank and financial services corporation, announced the release of its annual report for 2021, highlighting its ongoing efforts to address challenges and build more sustainable, diverse and equitable communities worldwide.

The report and its accompanying Executive Summary reflect Citi's progress toward long-standing ESG goals, commitments, and initiatives to address more recent global developments that confirm ESG concerns.

Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citi, said: "From COVID-19 and climate change to systemic racial inequity and a transformational war in Ukraine, we continue to see the need for businesses like Citi to step up and help address the global challenges facing our society. The health of our business is inextricably linked with the health of our planet and our communities, and we cannot succeed at one without the other. At Citi, this sense of responsibility continues to shape our decisions, business strategy and firm-wide goals and commitments.”

The report entails highlights, including accelerating sustainable finance, efforts in the transition to a low-carbon economy, positive social impact in emerging markets, increasing affordable housing in the United States, efforts to reduce the racial wealth gap in the US, and increasing transparency around pay equity and diversity.

Edward Skyler, Head of Global Public Affairs, Citi, said: "Over the past year, we made meaningful strides toward achieving the commitments we have set, despite the uncertain and volatile period we are living through. We know that ESG considerations will only become more prominent as all of our stakeholders increasingly prioritize the need for our bank to help chart a sustainable and equitable future. Whether it is through our Impact Fund, our plan to reach net zero or the work we do to support communities wherever we do business, we will continue to look for new and innovative ways to put our balance sheet to good use.”

Citi's ESG Report, Global Citizenship Report, has been published annually since 2001 and is now in its third year.

The 2021 ESG report is in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. It also includes reporting against three applicable Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) sector standards.

Citi also bases its reporting on the Principles for Responsible Banking, the UN Global Compact, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights frameworks.