Environmental Impact
Contribute to a healthier natural environment in the communities in which we live and work.
Doing Our Part
As a local bank in the Twin Cities with an efficient physical footprint, Bridgewater Bank has a relatively small direct environmental impact in our communities. However, we remain conscious of the impact we do have and have efforts in place to enhance our sustainability while being mindful of the resources we use. We are committed to doing our part to be good environmental stewards in the Twin Cities.
Maintaining a Small Physical Footprint
Bridgewater Bank has always operated with a “branch-light” service model. As a $5.1 billion bank, Bridgewater has just nine branches, including two new branches added as part of the acquisition of First Minnetonka City Bank in December 2024. By comparison, the average publicly-traded bank of our size has nearly 40 branches. This means we are still able to provide our always-responsive level of service to our clients, but do so while using fewer resources as an organization.
Bridgewater Bank Corporate Center
In August 2020, we opened Bridgewater Bank Corporate Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. We deployed an energy conservation strategy in the design and construction of this state-of-the-art facility through participation in the Energy Design Assistance Program with our local utility providers.
For the third consecutive year, the Bridgewater Bank Corporate Center earned ENERGY STAR® certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ENERGY STAR certified buildings are verified to perform in the top 25% of buildings nationwide, based on weather-normalized source energy use criteria that considers occupancy, hours of operation and other key metrics. The next time you visit, check out the little blue label on display at our entrance – it represents proven, verified superior energy performance over a 12-month period. By meeting strict standards, Bridgewater is saving energy, saving money and helping protect the environment by generating fewer greenhouse gas emissions than typical buildings.
For more than 20 years, the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program has been America’s resource for saving energy and protecting the environment – today, thousands of facility owners and managers use ENERGY STAR to improve the energy performance of their buildings.
Across our corporate center and other branches, we have several environmental features and initiatives in place:
- Nearly exclusive LED lighting across all facilities, including the use of lighting efficiency software
- Automatic water faucet shut-offs in restrooms
- Drinking fountains and water machines include water bottle filling stations (saved an average of nearly 5,800 plastic bottles per month in 2024)
- Two electric vehicle (EV) charging stations
- Consistent monitoring and tracking of the HVAC system to maintain and minimize runtimes, thereby enhancing energy savings
- Provide and encourage use of dishes and silverware instead of paper plates and plastic utensils
- Use of multi-function copiers eliminates need for personal printers, reduces excess printing and increases document security
- Reduced printing with general transition to electronic meeting materials
- Created a net positive carbon impact by installing new carpet with the highest sustainability rating in the Bridgewater Corporate Center in 2023
Other Initiatives
Paperless Processes
At Bridgewater, investment in technology not only helps to enhance the client experience, it helps support our priority to do our part to contribute to a healthier environment. In recent years, we have taken steps to integrate digital technology into both client-facing and back-office processes to reduce our use of paper.
In 2024, we launched Document Manager, a new workflow system that will create efficiencies in the way we operate at Bridgewater Bank. This exciting new platform will reduce manual processes and create transparency in the account and loan opening processes. Document Manager is designed to streamline our processes, reduce manual tasks, and improve overall productivity, leading to enhanced collaboration, improved decision-making, and an elevated client experience. In a future phase, we will focus on the client experience with a client portal functionality that will further enhance operational efficiencies and reduce the reliance on paper.
In addition, through the organization-wide adoption of DocuSign, we have meaningfully reduced the paper we use for account openings and loan originations. We also adopted Integrated Teller which eliminated deposit slips, transaction tickets and other paper usage from our day-to-day branch processes.
Enhancements to our online and mobile banking platforms have resulted in a 29% increase in digital banking users since 2021. This includes a 22% increase in the number of mobile deposits, which not only reduces paper usage, but reduces fossil fuel usage to get to and from our branches. In addition, we continue to see increases in eStatement adoptions.
Recycling Initiatives
Bridgewater Bank partners with PCs for People for its recycling and destruction of old and unused technology equipment. PCs for People is a national nonprofit whose mission is to provide low-income individuals, families, and non-profits with no or low-cost quality computers and internet to advance digital inclusion in its communities.
Since the beginning of our partnership in 2020, we have recycled nearly 400 computers, over 250 of which were able to be refurbished and distributed within the community. These computers have gone on to support over 480 individuals, including nearly 250 children. The recycled and refurbished equipment that we have provided to PCs for People not only supports our community, but the environment as well as the equipment we have donated has saved over three tons of electronic waste from our landfills.
In 2024, Bridgewater also hosted its first paper shredding event, open to team members and clients. Through this “Ditch the Docs” event, we shredded nearly 1,000 pounds of paper.
Adopt a Highway
First Minnetonka City Bank, acquired by Bridgwater Bank in 2024, has been an active supporter of the Adopt a Highway program, an effort to keep Minnesota’s highways and rest areas clean and free of litter. Twice per year, team members from First Minnetonka City Bank volunteer to pick up trash along a designated section of the highway. Bridgewater plans to continue this initiative in 2025.