The exodus by the six largest U.S. banks reflects banks' changing priorities as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in 13 days. Trump has said he wants to immediately boost U.S. oil and gas development and repeal legislation that provides funding for clean energy.
Just three U.S. banks remain members of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance — Amalgamated Bank in New York City; Climate First Bank in St. Petersburg, Florida; and Areti Bank in Puerto Rico. The group was formed in 2021 to mobilize the private sector to align financing activities with the Paris climate accord. Founding members included Bank of America, Citi and Morgan Stanley.
The alliance's website currently identifies 141 member banks from 44 different countries. A spokesperson for the group declined to comment Tuesday on
In a statement confirming its departure,
"We will also continue to support the banking and investment needs of our clients who are engaged in energy transition and in decarbonizing different sectors of the economy," it said.
The $4.2 trillion-asset company also expects to "continue engaging" with the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero and other groups "to advance pragmatic solutions and market conditions that can help further a low-carbon and energy-secure future," it noted. The Net-Zero Banking Alliance is a subgroup of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, also founded in 2021.
In its own statement last week, Citi said it plans to "focus [its] attention" on the Glasgow group.
Climate-change advocacy groups were critical Tuesday of the big banks' decision to leave the alliance.
Allison Fajans-Turner, who oversees bank engagement and policy for the Rainforest Action Network, noted in a statement that the departing banks "are not absolved of their fiduciary responsibilities to manage and reduce climate financial risk or to deliver on their climate commitments."
Still, "these exits make it abundantly clear that U.S. banks will not police themselves and will readily capitulate to the pressure tactics and climate denialism of a Republican-controlled federal government," Fajans-Turner added.
A representative of Stand.earth, a policy and activist group, pointed a finger at the alliance itself following the departures of several prominent member banks.
"We are … disappointed by the alliance's failure to hold its members accountable," Hannah Saggau, a senior climate finance campaigner at Stand.earth, said in a statement.
The Sierra Club, an environmental organization, downplayed the role of "voluntary industry alliances" such as the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. Ben Cushing, the fossil-free finance campaign director at the Sierra Club, said that "what matters most is the strength of a company's policies and targets, and transparent adherence to them."
"If Wall Street banks acquiesce further to climate denier politicians and fail to follow through on their climate commitments, it will isolate the U.S. on the global stage, and the enormous costs will fall upon our global economy, financial markets, and vulnerable communities," Cushing warned in a statement. "Ultimately, it's up to banks' regulators, shareholders, and clients — including state and local leaders — to hold them accountable."
Climate First CEO Ken LaRoe said Tuesday in an interview that his $906 million-asset bank, which is focused on environmental sustainability, has no plans to drop out of the alliance.
"We don't plan to leave anything," LaRoe said. "We wear it with a badge of honor."
