Goldman Sachs 2015 Annual Report Download - page 8

6 Goldman Sachs 2015 Annual Report
Letter to Shareholders
Environmental Impact
We were among the first global financial institutions
to acknowledge the scale and urgency of the challenges
posed by climate change when we established our
Environmental Policy Framework in 2005. A decade
later, we have continued to build on our commitment
to environmental stewardship, making it a part of our
core mission to deploy financial solutions and drive
market opportunities that help to address climate change.
Specifically, to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon
economy, last year we updated our Environmental Policy
Framework to include an increased target of $150 billion
in clean energy financings and investments by 2025, up
from an earlier target of $40 billion. Finally, we continue
to be mindful of our own operational impact on the
environment, pledging to be carbon neutral from
2015 onwards and to target 100 percent renewable
power to meet our global electricity needs by 2020.
10,000 Women
Since its launch, this initiative has provided more
than 10,000 women from across 56 countries —
including Afghanistan, Egypt, Rwanda, Brazil, India
and China — with business and management education,
mentoring and networking, and access to capital. After
completing the program, nearly 70 percent of surveyed
graduates have increased their revenue, 60 percent have
added new jobs and most have doubled the size of their
workforces. What’s also encouraging is the “multiplier
effect”: 90 percent of our graduates have “paid it
forward” by mentoring and teaching business skills
to other women in their communities.
In 2014, The Goldman Sachs Foundation and
International Finance Corporation, a member of the
World Bank Group, launched the first-ever global finance
facility dedicated exclusively to women-owned small-
and medium-sized enterprises. To date, the facility has
made more than $400 million in commitments to banks
in 14 countries, enabling women from Kenya to China
to Laos to access capital and grow their businesses. In
2015, President Obama announced a $100 million
commitment by the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation, demonstrating how the facility is catalyzing
new investments from both the public and private sectors
in women-owned enterprises globally.
10,000 Small Businesses
Designed to help small businesses grow and create jobs
by providing entrepreneurs with a practical business
education and access to capital, 10,000 Small Businesses
has served more than 6,000 small business owners at
30 sites across the U.S. and the U.K. This includes our
commitment of more than $180 million to 28 capital
partners that have lent over $120 million to date,
resulting in more than 750 loans to small businesses.
The program has maintained a 99 percent graduation
rate, with more than 75 percent of surveyed participants
increasing their revenues, and nearly 60 percent
generating new jobs within 18 months of graduation.
Focus on Technology
Technology underpins everything we do. In fact,
approximately one quarter of our total staff works in
technology, which demonstrates just how critical it has
become to our strategy in several ways.
First and foremost, technology enhances the overall
experience and quality of service we are able to
provide to our clients. It allows us to execute transactions
more quickly and seamlessly, to provide better market
analytics, data and other information, and to
communicate faster and more efficiently.
Second, technology helps us to operate more efficiently
as a firm. For example, relying more on open source and
cloud strategies has helped us reduce vendor expenses
for our workplace application infrastructure products
and market data sources.
Third, technology helps us meet new regulatory
requirements, such as Dodd-Frank implementation and
Basel III provisions. We have hired more technology