This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on solutions for equitable and just cities. Get Next City’s stories in your inbox: nextcity.org/newsletter. 

Once an outdoor educator, Laura Wildenborg spent 10 years taking kids on field trips to go rock climbing or cross-country skiing across the region, all to inspire children to love and care for the environment.

After receiving her MBA in 2020, she made a drastic career pivot — to banking. But she brought her care for the environment along with her.

“That love of the outdoors, that was such an important aspect of what I was doing, and I wanted to carry that through into my next role,” says Wildenborg, vice president of strategic lending for Sunrise Banks, a community development financial institution based in St. Paul, Minnesota. “Finding myself at a bank, I realized banks have incredible power to influence change.”

Wildenborg serves as a project leader for Sunrise Banks’ net zero banking initiative, which launched in July 2024. Net zero banking refers to the investment in projects that will reduce or eliminate carbon emissions. Customers of the bank can opt in and allow their deposits to be loaned out only to net zero projects. Since launching its net zero program, Sunrise Banks has received $5.5 million in deposits and has loaned out nearly $22 million.

Sunrise Banks started the initiative as part of its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and to align with the Paris Agreement, an international treaty to limit global temperature increases by decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. (President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement just hours after taking office.)

As of now, Sunrise Banks customers can only participate in the program through deposits, but the bank plans to expand the program this year.

“Many people don’t realize that when they deposit their money with a bank, those funds are loaned out to projects,” Wildenborg says. “With this program at Sunrise, we put that money where our values are, which means in the projects that will reduce carbon emissions — in turn having a positive impact on our community and environment.”

Wildenborg says one customer shared that he never thought about what the money in his bank account was used for. After realizing he wants to create a more sustainable future for his kids, he moved all his money to Sunrise Banks and opted into the net zero deposits program.

“The more they understand how their money is used,” Wildenborg says, “the more empowered they can be to ensure that their money is going towards cutting their own bank emissions and helping build climate resilient communities.”

Along with individual bank customers, 10 nonprofit organizations that work with Sunrise Banks are also participating in the net zero deposits program.

Projects that include clean energy, energy reduction, efficiency updates, green buildings, clean transportation and more are eligible for net zero financing at Sunrise Banks.

Developers Adam Jonas and Jay Rajaratnam were among the first recipients of Sunrise Banks’ net zero deposits program. Jonas and Rajaratnam opened Firefly, a fully sustainable multi-family home in Minneapolis, in July. Sunrise Banks granted a $1.75 million net zero construction loan to the project. The building has 10 tenants with two moving in soon, making it fully occupied.

“We want to not just meet that threshold of being net zero,” Jonas said. “If the building is not beautiful and loved, it doesn’t help. We need to create things that are valued, beautiful and inspiring to help further the cause.”

As they developed Firefly, Rajaratnam and Jonas also started the Sustainable Developers Collective to share advice and effective practices with other developers. Sunrise Banks hosted one of their first meet-ups.

Rajaratnam said that companies often just pay lip service to environmental initiatives, but after working closely with Sunrise Banks, he feels they are effectively standing behind their mission.

“It was beyond just banking,” Jonas says. “Sustainable Developers Collective is really trying to bring those individuals together so we can learn better, quicker and more efficiently — financing is such a big part of that. It’s a testament to Sunrise’s commitment to sustainability that they were in that conversation from day one.”

Sunrise Banks is accepting applications for loans towards projects like Firefly.

“You have the potential to do work that will last beyond you. What Sunrise is doing enables us to do that,” Rajaratnam says. “If our kids don’t live here, someone else’s kids will be in this space well after we’re gone, and what we do today will have an impact on them.”