JPMorgan Chase confirmed its withdrawal from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance on 7 January 2025, completing the departure of all large United States banks from the United Nations-backed climate coalition. The bank, the largest in the United States by assets, was the last of its Wall Street peers to remain in the alliance, after other major institutions announced their exits in the closing stages of 2024 and the opening days of the new year.
In a statement accompanying its departure, JPMorgan said it was ending its membership in order to pursue independent efforts while concentrating on practical solutions for low-carbon technologies and energy security.
THE LAST LARGE US BANK TO LEAVE
The NZBA was founded in 2021, when major US banks joined the alliance, part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, alongside European and Asian institutions. The alliance was conceived as a mechanism for aligning member banks' lending and underwriting portfolios with the goals of the Paris Agreement, with signatories committing to set and publish interim science-based emissions-reduction targets covering their core financing activities.
ASSET MANAGEMENT ARM RETAINS NET ZERO TIES
Despite the bank-level departure from the NZBA, JPMorgan's asset management division has maintained its engagement with the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, a distinct coalition operating within the investment management rather than the commercial banking context.
The bank has previously published its own net-zero commitments and sector-level financing targets.