Home » “Bitterly Disappointing”: Campaigners Lament Fall of Net Zero Banking Alliance

“Bitterly Disappointing”: Campaigners Lament Fall of Net Zero Banking Alliance

by admin477351

Sustainable investment campaigners are calling the shutdown of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) a “bitterly disappointing” moment for climate action. The global coalition of banks has ceased operations after a mass exodus of members, a development that some advocates see as a significant failure of leadership from the financial sector.

Jeanne Martin of ShareAction voiced this disappointment, stating that “senior bankers need to be far more courageous” and use their influence to uphold climate accountability. From her perspective, the collapse represents a missed opportunity for the industry to lead the transition to clean energy at a crucial time.

The need for courage became apparent after the re-election of Donald Trump, which unleashed a wave of “anti-woke” political pressure on US banks. This pressure proved too much for the industry’s leaders, as the six largest American banks all quit the alliance to avoid controversy.

Their departure triggered a global retreat. With its most powerful members gone, the NZBA lost its momentum, and international banks began to follow suit. The recent exits of UK giants HSBC and Barclays were the final confirmation that the collective will to move forward had been broken.

While ShareAction laments the shutdown, other groups like Reclaim Finance are less sentimental. They argue that the NZBA was an ineffective “illusion” of progress. This division highlights a central debate in the climate movement: whether to mourn the failure of corporate-led initiatives or to celebrate their demise as a step toward more forceful, government-led regulatory solutions.

 

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