Barbados Times

Barbados, Caribbean & World News
Thursday, Jun 08, 2023

Wall Street's Biggest Banks Failing Key Green Test in Fresh Study

Wall Street's Biggest Banks Failing Key Green Test in Fresh Study

The banks singled out in the analysis by Ceres and TPI are all members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, a coalition that requires signatories to set interim targets for the most carbon-intense sectors on their balance sheets.
The six biggest banks on Wall Street are failing to live up to a key plank of their ESG commitments to stakeholders, according to a joint study published on Wednesday.

An analysis by Ceres and the Transition Pathways Initiative has found that JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co. have yet to align their oil and gas financing goals for 2030 with a scenario that keeps global warming within the critical threshold of 1.5C.

Banks' continued support for fossil fuels, which is the primary source of planet-warming pollution, has left the industry and the executives who dominate it vulnerable to criticism from shareholders and activist groups. At the same time, the finance sector is under intense pressure from the American right as the Republican Party penalizes lenders for appearing to embrace environmental, social and good governance goals, such as reducing financed emissions.

"Our analysis highlights just how difficult it is for banks and their stakeholders to assess and compare how much progress they're making on real oil and gas emissions reductions," said Blair Bateson, director of the Ceres Company Network at Ceres. "And it goes beyond these six banks."

BloombergNEF estimates that the ratio of clean-energy lending and equity underwriting relative to fossil fuels needs to hit 4 to 1 by the end of the decade to live up to the Paris climate agreement. But by the end of 2021, that ratio for the finance industry was roughly 0.8 to 1, BloombergNEF said in February.

The banks singled out in the analysis by Ceres and TPI are all members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, a coalition that requires signatories to set interim targets for the most carbon-intense sectors on their balance sheets. All six have set 2030 goals for the oil and gas sectors.

Ceres and TPI said the methodologies underpinning the 2030 targets of the six Wall Street banks "lack sufficient comparability and transparent disclosure" and leave "an array of material business activities outside the scope of their targets, which in turn creates loopholes for banks to continue financing high-carbon activities."

Citigroup said in a statement that its 2030 emissions reduction targets are benchmarked against the International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario, which is 1.5C aligned. The bank said it's committed to supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Officials at JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman and Morgan Stanley declined to comment, while spokespeople for Wells Fargo weren't immediately available.

In the Ceres-TPI report, Bank of America was considered to demonstrate "best practice" in two areas: targeting absolute emissions instead of the intensity of emissions, and setting 2030 targets that align with warming of less than 2C. Citigroup also has an absolute emissions target, while Wells Fargo was considered to exhibit best practice for excluding carbon offsets.

JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley didn't demonstrate best practice in any of the areas reviewed by Ceres and TPI.

To improve target-setting practices, the banks should prioritize activities with high financial and emissions exposure, better disclose the key assumptions and calculations used when setting goals, and issue annual reports to show the progress they're making in reducing emissions, Ceres and TPI said.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Barbados Times
Close
0:00
0:00
US and European Intelligence Agencies Uncover Evidence of Ukrainian Role in Terror Attack on Nord Stream Pipeline
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
If you donated to BLM, you got played
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
Actor Tom Hanks told Harvard University graduates to be superheroes in their defense of truth and American ideals, and to resist those who twist the truth for their own gain
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
France Arrests 10 on Suspicion of Failing to Respond in Time to Migrant Drowning
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Is Saudi Arabia the holiest place in the world? Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions from "The Mount Sinai Stand" Discovered in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Last Walmart in North Portland Closing Down
Florida's DeSantis seeks to disqualify judge in Disney case
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines calls the British monarchy "an absurdity" he wants to remove in his lifetime
King Charles III being crowned.
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
Ukraine More Prepared for Counterattack as Reinforcements Arrive
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Discuss Migration, Defence, and Ukraine
AT&T's Successful Test of Satellite-Based Phone Call Raises Possibility of Widespread Coverage
CNN: "Joe Biden is asking for four more years — when 74% of Americans think the country is heading the wrong way“
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Cuts Short Live TV Interview Due to Health Issue
US Congresswoman threaten Twitter Files journalist with arrest
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh slams New York Times' pro-government stance and treatment of sources
Enough is enough: it's time to end the war in Ukraine. While Russia may be to blame for starting it, Russia is not the one refusing to stop it
Fox News Settles their case with Dominion Voting Systems for a staggering $787.5 MILLION
AG decries scapegoating and rushed lawmaking by government
The land of the free violence
×