We are purpose driven at Summit. We help women and their families avoid poverty in retirement by building wealth, making good financial decisions and reducing financial stress. We make managing money easier from conversations to actions.
Our purpose and actions build long-term sustainability for employees, members and the community. Being fully committed to long-term sustainability for our employees, members and communities includes the environment, too.
We consider the environment in our facilities plans and maintenance:
- We have in place and continue to pilot environmental upgrades for new branches and remodels.
- Our headquarters, with its Silver LEED Certification, continues to have positive impacts with EV charging stations and EV solar charging stations, energy efficient systems, our irrigation holding tank, recycling and composting.
- We recycle at all our locations, compost at our headquarters and offer our employees e-recycling.
We also recognize that the impact Summit makes in environmental sustainability is not limited to how we operate the credit union. It is also in how we engage with our members, employees and communities.
While making managing money easier and less stressful, we also engage members and employees in reducing emissions and paper use and practicing recycling:
- We partnered with the cities of Madison (former MadiSUN solar energy program) and Milwaukee on loan programs helping residents borrow money for solar and other energy-efficient home improvements. Current programs include Milwaukee Shines and Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (ME2).
- Summit offers lots of products and services digitally – including joining, tracking your money, savings options, checking options, mortgages, consumer and business loans, transferring and making payments and more.
- Our video tellers in several of our locations mean staff can help members, live, from where they are, creating better efficiency and safety for employees, too.
- Our annual Shred Fest includes tons of paper recycling, more than 12 tons last year, and provides stress relief as members safely dispose of personal documents.
See more examples of Summit living and working green.
Moving Forward
While we have accomplished much for the environment over the years, we know there is more to do. At Summit, we take a holistic approach to create sustainable change. In the next year, we will advance to better understand and manage climate-related risks and opportunities, engaging with the climate risk industry and business organizations we are part of, like Global Alliance for Banking on Values. We will formalize an environmental management system and pursue more environmental sustainability initiatives focused on managing our impact on climate change, carbon emissions and natural resources. And we will implement policies, programs and learning practices which help our members, employees and communities transition to a more environmentally sustainable future.