Bank of America releases 2012 Corporate Social Responsibility report

Bank of America released its latest Corporate Social Responsibility report Monday, focusing on the company's financial accomplishments and its activities worldwide to help communities and the environment in 2012.

The bank also points out in the report some of the challenges it is facing in trying to reduce its impact on the environment.

"I’m proud of the impact we make each day through volunteering and philanthropy, the revitalization of our neighborhoods and our involvement in so many important issues, including hunger relief, education, job training, the environment and support for our military and veterans," CEO Brian Moynihan says in the report.

Some Bank of America 2012 highlights, according to the report:

Lending

• Extended $475 billion in credit to individuals, businesses and nonprofits.
• $19.6 billion to U.S. small businesses, up from $17.7 billion in 2011 and $18.7 billion in 2010. 
• $75.1 billion in U.S. first mortgages, including $15.5 billion for roughly 96,500 people of low- and moderate-incomes.

Environment

• Set a goal to invest $50 billion globally over the next 10 years in business activities that address climate change and demands on natural resources. That's in the wake of completing a $20 billion similar initiative.
• By the end of 2012, 53 banking centers, totaling 266,000 square feet, had achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

Community giving

• Contributed roughly $200 million toward a 10-year, $2 billion philanthropic investment goal. Of that, more than $187 million was in cash giving, and $36 million was in-kind.
• 1.5 million volunteer hours.

Other

• Reduced long-term debt to $276 billion as of Dec. 31, from $372 billion in December 2011.
• Completed a three-year divestiture of more than $60 billion in noncore activities that didn't have "meaningful" impact on the bank's core earnings.

But as Bank of America moves away from owning to leasing more space -- a move that comes as the bank, like many others, is trying to reduce costs -- it says it can be hard to track how the effect it is having on the environment, such as water usage.

"While many of our landlords have extensive sustainability programs, this transition of operational control occasionally presents challenges to our efforts toward reducing our environmental footprint," the report says. "Among these challenges is decreased transparency in utility usage and reduced opportunities to generate measurable returns on our environmental efficiency investments.