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# HSBC Exits Net-Zero Banking Alliance, First Major UK Bank to Leave UN-Backed Coalition
- URL: https://www.theglobalbanker.com/hsbc-exits-net-zero-banking-alliance-first-major-uk-bank-leave-un-coalition/
- Published: 2025-07-11T13:36:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T14:07:50.000Z
- Description: HSBC announced its departure from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance on 11 July 2025, saying that, like many global peers, it had decided to withdraw while remaining committed to its 2050 net zero ambition.
- Author: TGB Editorial Team
- Tags: ESG, Europe, #archive

HSBC announced on 11 July 2025 that it is withdrawing from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the United Nations-backed coalition of lenders committed to aligning their lending and investment portfolios with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050\. The decision makes HSBC the first major UK bank to leave the NZBA.

In a statement published on 11 July, the bank said the NZBA had helped it establish its initial target-setting approach and that, as it updates its Net Zero Transition Plan later in 2025, it had decided like many global peers to withdraw; its financed emissions targets would continue to be informed by the latest scientific evidence, and it would remain engaged with the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. The alliance, which operates under the umbrella of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, requires member banks to set and publicly disclose interim targets for reducing the emissions associated with their lending and investment portfolios, with progress reported annually against those benchmarks.

#### DELAYED OPERATIONS TARGET PRECEDES EXIT

The departure follows a separate decision by HSBC in the same year to push back its target for achieving net-zero across its own operations by two decades, from 2030 to 2050\. 

The bank said it remained committed to its 2050 net zero ambition.

#### INVESTOR PRESSURE AND US DEPARTURES

The announcement came weeks after HSBC's annual general meeting in May 2025, at which investors representing approximately £1.2 trillion in assets urged the bank to reaffirm its net-zero commitment in clear terms. 

Several large US banks departed the alliance beginning in December 2024\.