Banking On The Environment

Through our commitment and actions to support environmental sustainability, we believe that we can make the region a healthier place to live, work and raise a family.

Financing environmentally friendly power generation projects, building green offices, providing free EV charging stations, and sponsoring free e-recycling events are just some of the ways we are putting our values to work for the environment and the residents of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

For information on getting your garden growing, please visit our Gardening Tips page by clicking on the link below.

Gardening Tips

Solar Farm

Powering Green - $350 Million in Sustainable Energy Projects Financed

PeoplesBank started financing sustainable energy several years ago by helping Holyoke Gas & Electric replace its hydroelectric generators, a sustainable energy source that actually provides electric power for three of our offices.

Today, our commercial lenders are known for their green energy financing expertise. To date, we have financed more than $350 million in wind, solar and hydroelectric power generation projects.

EV Charging Station

Driving Green - EV Charging Stations

Electric vehicles (EV) are still somewhat rare, but PeoplesBank is already looking ahead and has installed EV charging stations in four locations.

"PeoplesBank is giving me the ability to reduce my carbon footprint," noted Peter Friedland, an EV owner who regularly recharges at one of the bank's charging stations.

E-recycling

Recycling Green - Free E-recycling Events

For several years now, PeoplesBank has been holding free e-recycling events. These events have been very successful in collecting computers, monitors, televisions and more.

To date, the bank's e-recycling events have collected more than 100,000 pounds of material.

Northampton office

Building Green Offices

Community banks are not known for building green offices, but PeoplesBank opened its third LEED® Gold-certified office in Northampton in 2013. Our LEED® Silver-certified office in Springfield opened in 2010 and was awarded the city of Springfield's GreenSeal because of its innovation and the fact that it was the first building of that type in the city. Our LEED® Gold-certified office in West Springfield opened in 2011 and was the first green building in that community. Each of these buildings is highly energy efficient and minimizes the impact on the environment through the use of recycled and locally sourced materials where possible. The buildings also were developed on existing commercial land, meaning no additional land had to be used, and construction materials were recycled. Many of these same features have been replicated in our new Northampton office.