Piper Sandler has released its first ESG report detailing the firm’s efforts on behalf of its employees, clients, communities and shareholders.
The key developments from 2021 and 2022 include:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) and Supporting Career Advancement for Piper Sandler Employees: In 2021 and 2022, Piper Sandler’s efforts included:
- Strengthening the diversity of its board of directors.
- Hiring its first director of diversity, equity and inclusion to help advance strategy and programming across the firm.
- Developing actionable and specific inclusive leadership goals for all people managers as part of their year-end performance evaluations.
- Establishing specific diversity representation goals across the firm.
- Creating and supporting enhanced mentorship opportunities for its employees, including one-on-one mentoring, reverse mentoring and business line mentoring programs.
- Promoting 23 employees to managing director in 2021.
- In 2021, the firm and its employees gave $6.3 million to charitable organizations and non-profits, with the Piper Sandler Foundation focused on increasing educational opportunities for BIPOC communities, and stabilizing the circumstances for disadvantaged youth by helping students and their families meet basic needs.
Helping Piper Sandler Clients Drive Innovations in Sustainability and Navigate ESG: In 2021 and 2022, the firm’s efforts included the following:
- The renewables and clean energy investment banking team closed 10 transactions in 2021 involving multiple clean energy sub-sectors, including solar equipment and services, renewable fuels and fuel cells.
- The firm hosted the second annual Energy Transition Leaders Summit in 2022, bringing together industry thought leaders to discuss a variety of current topics relating to the clean energy transition, including solar panel manufacturing, green hydrogen, carbon capture, battery technology and renewable natural gas.
- The public finance business served as a lead underwriter or financial adviser on 24 transactions that received a green, social or sustainability designation, and served as advisor or underwriter to clients in affordable housing, mass transit and project finance involving sustainability.
- Becoming Better Stewards of the Natural Environment: Piper Sandler is committed to better understanding how to make operations more sustainable as the firm continues to monitor evolving regulation, policy development and market trends. In 2021, the firm completed an inaugural environmental inventory, examining water usage, energy usage and waste generation across the firm’s global operations. The firm also evaluated employee commuting and business travel and completed an assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with direct business activities and value chain.
“Our ESG initiatives align with our core values as a firm, and better prepare us to meet the unique challenges of today,” said Chad Abraham, Chairman and CEO. “In addition, we believe that our concerted effort to improve across our ESG priorities will allow us to help our clients navigate these same challenges.”