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Moving To A Low-carbon Future

One of the most significant ways we can back our colleagues, customers and communities is to do our part to operate our Company responsibly, contribute to a low-carbon future and protect the environment on which all life depends. Climate change represents one of the greatest challenges facing our planet, and we are committed to supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy to meet the science-based recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As a financial services company, our primary environmental impacts and source of GHG emissions come from the operation of our internal data centers and office facilities, as well as colleague business travel and direct mail marketing activities. In 2018, we became a CarbonNeutral® company and began powering our operations with 100% renewable electricity through on-site solar, renewable energy credits, carbon offsets and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We are committed to maintaining these efforts moving forward.

Low-carbon 2019 Highlights
Progress on our 2025 Environmental Goals

To learn more about our efforts to do our part to operate our Company responsibly, contribute to a low-carbon future and protect the environment, download our 2019-2020 ESG Report.


Endnotes:

1 CarbonNeutral® certification is granted to businesses or organizations that have reduced their carbon emissions to net zero in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol.

Operations include all our managed facilities, field sites and data centers. Managed facilities are individual properties operationally managed by our global real estate team and housing critical business functions. Field sites are individual properties that are not operationally managed by our global real estate team but directly by our business units. They are typically smaller sites, less than 30,000 square feet (including airport lounges, foreign exchange kiosks, and sales offices) that are owned or leased by American Express.

2 Achieved zero net carbon emissions for scope 1, 2, and 3 (waste and colleague business travel, including third-party air, rail and rental cars) through renewable energy credits, carbon offsets, and reduced GHG emissions.

3 Measurement is based only on managed facilities where metered and/or measured data is available; per colleague goals based on number of colleagues located in such managed facilities.

4 Single-use plastics is defined as plastic items that are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled. These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging. Materials that are plastic yet designed to be reusable (i.e. reusable plastic food containers or water bottles) are out of scope.

5 Green building certified percentage is represented by the total square footage of leased or owned facilities actively occupied by American Express (excluding parking lot square footage) certified under a global or locally recognized third- party environmental building rating system as meeting their performance criteria (LEED, BREEAM, NABERS and GreenMark).

Statements herein that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our commitments, goals, expectations, intentions, projections or strategies for the future, may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including those described in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the company’s other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.