JPMorgan Hires EDF’s Ratner as Sustainability Executive

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. hired Ben Ratner from the Environmental Defense Fund to help advise banking clients on lowering their carbon footprint to combat climate change. 

Ratner joined the firm's Washington, D.C. office Monday as an executive director, reporting to global head of sustainability Marisa Buchanan, according to the New York-based bank. He spent almost a decade at EDF, where he was most recently an associate vice president who led a team that worked with investors and energy companies to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. 

“My time at EDF impressed upon me the financial sector's pivotal roles in addressing climate change, from partnering with traditional energy firms on pragmatic, low-carbon solutions to scaling green technologies,” Ratner said in an emailed statement. 

Ratner will do similar work at JPMorgan and also help integrate sustainability into the firm's inclusive growth efforts, including low-carbon technology and community climate resilience.  The hire is part of a banking plan announced last April to finance $2.5 trillion to advance sustainable development over a decade.

Ratner is joining as the bank expands its “capacity to work with our clients and local communities to advance climate action and more inclusive, sustainable growth,” Buchanan said in a statement. 

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