In a clear example of submission to the anti-climate agenda of the Trump regime, Wells Fargo Bank has dropped out of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and given up on all its financed emission targets. While all the other big North American banks, and a Japanese and an Australian lender, have also quit the NZBA, only Wells Fargo has completely given up on addressing the emissions from their clients. Banks must accept their responsibility to act on climate, even if they do so outside the NZBA.
Wells Fargo, the fourth biggest US bank, has dropped its 2030 sectoral financed emission targets and its overall goal to achieve net zero financed emissions in 2050. (1) These targets were adopted by Wells Fargo in 2022 and 2023 under their commitments as members of the UN-Convened NZBA. Wells Fargo left the alliance two days before Christmas.
All the other major US and Canadian banks also left the NZBA in the run up to and shortly after Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Within the last month, Australian bank Macquarie and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), the second largest Japanese lender, have also quit the alliance. As of 5 March, there were 134 banks from 44 countries still in the NZBA. (2)
But the banks did not all bail on the NZBA in the same manner. Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, all stated that they continue to be committed to net zero, but from outside the NZBA. The Canadian banks made similar statements about their climate goals remaining in place, (3) while SMBC said that it “would leave its climate commitments unchanged.” (4) Wells Fargo, however, left with only a brief email to the media with no mention of reasons for leaving or any future commitments, (5) and then two months later announced it was dropping all its financed emission targets.
Citi’s statement on exiting the NZBA gave the clearest impression that it continues to take its decarbonization targets seriously, with a link to a recent report which includes new 2030 targets for aluminum, aviation, cement and shipping, and their first “facilitated emission” targets covering their capital markets activities (their issuances of new bonds and equity) for energy, power and auto manufacturing. (6)
Reclaim Finance has serious concerns about the adequacy of bank decarbonization targets, and in particular financed and facilitated emission targets. (7) It is nonetheless vital that banks continue to accept that they have a responsibility to act on climate, even if they do so from outside the NZBA. Citi’s apparent commitment to maintaining and expanding their targets is a step in the right direction.
Source: reclaimfinance.org
