Wells Fargo announced on Friday 20 December 2024 that it was withdrawing from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the United Nations-backed grouping of banks that have committed to aligning their lending and investment portfolios with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions pathways by 2050. The San Francisco-based lender provided no stated reason for the exit.
Wells Fargo had joined the NZBA in October 2021, six months after the coalition's launch in April 2021, signing up to commitments including setting science-based interim decarbonisation targets for their lending and investment portfolios and reporting annually on progress against those targets.
GOLDMAN SACHS DEPARTED TWO WEEKS EARLIER
The timing of Wells Fargo's exit followed closely on that of Goldman Sachs, which had left the NZBA two weeks earlier, on 6 December 2024. The NZBA was established under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero ahead of the COP26 conference.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office had been reviewing the bank under a state law targeting energy-company boycotts, said Wells Fargo had confirmed on 19 December that it would leave the NZBA at his request.
Bank news that matters, every weekday.
Follow The Global Banker on LinkedIn