Carney’s green banking alliance votes to cease its operations

A green investment banking alliance that Prime Minister Mark Carney helped create voted to shut down its operations after numerous Canadian, U.S., and European banks rescinded their memberships.

Source: X

A green investment banking alliance that Prime Minister Mark Carney helped create voted to shut down its operations after numerous Canadian, U.S., and European banks rescinded their memberships.

Carney was involved in the establishment of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, whose stated purpose was to help support banks in addressing “the impacts of climate change” and their “associated economic impacts.”

According to a spokesperson for the Alliance, members voted to end the membership-based structure on Friday, and instead retain its climate guidance solely as a reference.

In response to “member input,” the group announced in August that it had “paused ongoing activities” until after the internal vote concluded.

However, the vote’s results spelt the end of the alliance altogether, effective immediately.

The alliance was created while Carney was serving as the UN special envoy on climate action and finance as part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero in 2021.

Carney boasted that the alliance would ensure a broader, expedited transition to a net zero economy at the time.

The alliance launched with 43 member banks and boasted 120 before the election of U.S. President Donald Trump last year.

However, following the Trump administration’s announcement to drop a number of its climate initiatives, many members began to walk away from the alliance, including all five of Canada’s largest banks, which left in January.

CIBC said at the time that its reason for leaving the alliance was that it could now handle its climate efforts without the alliance’s support.

Dozens of global banks have also left the alliance, including some in Australia and Japan, saying they no longer require its help and have a firm understanding of what green investment entails.

“We, like many of our global peers, have decided to withdraw from the NZBA,” wrote HSBC in a statement last month. “Our approach to setting financed emissions targets will continue to be informed by the latest scientific evidence and credible industry-specific pathways.

In its exit statement, British Bank Barclays said, “With the departure of most of the global banks, the organization no longer has the membership to support our transition.”

Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz called on the remaining Canadian banks to leave the alliance earlier this year, referring to it as a Liberal “scam.”

“The alliance is a bit of a scam. It’s designed to give Liberals like Carney a platform to virtue signal about the environment,” said Schulz at the time. “But it is designed to also attack industries who are actually lowering emissions.”