PeoplesBank Issues Annual Corporate Green Report

HOLYOKE — PeoplesBank has issued its annual Corporate Green Report. Through its green values and actions to support environmental sustainability, PeoplesBank believes it can help make the region a healthier place to live, work, and raise a family. The bank puts these values to work throughout the year through its charitable donations and volunteerism. PeoplesBank is also recognized for its support of green-energy projects and its construction of LEED-certified offices.

For Earth Day 2017, PeoplesBank highlighted more than $65,000 in funding for green initiatives in Western Mass. Those initiatives include support for an existing mobile farmers’ market in Springfield and the launch of a new one in Holyoke; the CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) Food for All campaign; the Center for EcoTechnology; Grow Food Northampton’s community garden; the Source to Sea Cleanup of the Connecticut River (support of this effort will also include hands-on participation by a team of volunteers from the bank); the Mount Holyoke wetlands-restoration project; and scientific environmental education at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment.

PeoplesBank is also a longtime leader in sustainable-energy financing. “PeoplesBank started financing sustainable energy several years ago when we helped Holyoke Gas & Electric replace hydroelectric generators,” said Thomas Senecal, president and CEO of PeoplesBank. “That sustainable energy source actually provides electric power for four of our offices, including our headquarters in Holyoke.”

Building on that successful effort, PeoplesBank commercial lenders developed a niche expertise in creating financing packages for green-energy power generation and, to date, have financed more than $126 million in wind, solar, and hydroelectric power-generation projects.

Community banks are not generally known for building green offices, But PeoplesBank has a LEED Gold-certified office in Northampton, a LEED Gold-certified office in West Springfield, and a LEED Silver-certified office in Springfield. The LEED-certified office in Springfield, the first of its kind in the city, won a GreenSeal from the city of Springfield. PeoplesBank has also installed electric-vehicle charging stations at three offices, in Northampton, West Springfield, and Holyoke.