New York bank CEO talks affordability, AI and climate solutions at Climate Week NYC

Sep 23, 2026

Priscilla Sims Brown, President and CEO of socially responsible Amalgamated Bank, discusses making climate finance accessible to households, farmers and communities. She explores solar, energy efficiency, community-scale clean power and helping vulnerable people stay in place. Brown also shares how AI is being used for fraud prevention, cybersecurity and upskilling workers, while making sustainability relevant to everyday costs.

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INSIGHT

A Bank Built By Workers For Changemakers

Amalgamated Bank combines commercial banking with a mission centered on unions, social services, economic justice, and philanthropy.
Its 100-year history began when union workers created a bank after traditional institutions denied them access.

ANECDOTE

PACE Financing Makes Home Resilience Accessible

Property-assessed clean energy financing helps households retrofit homes without relying on credit scores.
Projects can include heat pumps, efficient windows, and appliances, while Amalgamated committed $250 million to commercial PACE.

ANECDOTE

Insurance Costs Can Explain Climate Risk

Priscilla Sims Brown defines resilience as preparing for inevitable climate-related problems before they become unaffordable.
In vulnerable regions, rising insurance premiums can communicate climate risk more effectively than technical terminology.

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Climate Week NYC is expected to convene more than 100,000 attendees for more than 1,000 planned events across New York City Sept. 20-27. Throughout the week we're bringing you special daily episodes featuring executives from around the world and across industries — including financial institutions.

In today's episode, we sit down with Priscilla Sims Brown, President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank. Manhattan-based Amalgamated is a socially responsible bank with a network of branches in New York City, Washington DC and San Francisco. The bank is a certified B Corp, which means it meets certain social, environmental and governance impact standards.

Priscilla tells us how Amalgamated is working to make climate finance affordable and accessible to low- and moderate-income urban and rural communities, including farmers, as part of the bank's $2.2 billion in lending for climate solutions.

She also outlines how Amalgamated is leveraging AI. The bank has a pilot partnership with major AI company Anthropic to address cybersecurity and fraud prevention, and also uses AI to upskill employees.

"We think a lot about the workforce in this moment where AI is so controversial," Priscilla says. "How do we get ahead of the curve, look around the corner, and see how we can upskill those jobs?"

We sat down with Priscilla at The Nest Campus, where the All Things Sustainable podcast is an official media partner.

Further listening:

As Climate Week NYC kicks off, energy, climate and national security converge

PRI interim CEO talks changing landscape for responsible investment

What to expect from Climate Week NYC: Why resilience is high on the agenda

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