Citigroup confirmed on 31 December 2024 that it had withdrawn from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the United Nations-convened industry group that requires member banks to align their lending portfolios with a net-zero emissions pathway by 2050. The departure makes Citi one of several large US lenders to exit the coalition in December, following similar moves by Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo earlier in the month.
Citi was among the NZBA's founding signatories when the alliance launched in April 2021. At the time, Jane Fraser — who had assumed the chief executive role just weeks earlier — had announced Citi's commitment to net-zero financed emissions by 2050 on her first day in the role.
ALLIANCE MEMBERSHIP
The NZBA was established under the umbrella of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, the broader coalition co-chaired by former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney that brings together asset managers, insurers, and banks behind a shared low-carbon transition agenda. Membership of the banking sub-group carries specific obligations, including setting interim 2030 financed-emissions targets across a range of high-emitting sectors and publishing annual progress reports aligned with a 1.5-degree warming scenario.
Citi stated that it would maintain its commitment to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero despite withdrawing from the banking-specific sub-group.
CITI'S CLIMATE COMMITMENTS
The bank has published financed-emissions data and set sector-level targets in prior years, and it said it remained committed to its own net-zero goals while focusing on addressing barriers to mobilising capital to emerging markets in support of the low-carbon transition.