Barclays has become the second UK bank to leave the industry\u2019s global alliance for setting climate targets.<\/p>\n
The lender announced it would be leaving the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) on Friday after \u201cthe departure of most of the global banks\u201d.<\/p>\n
HSBC became the first British institution to leave the alliance earlier this month in the wake of several major US banks.<\/p>\n
Campaigners called Barclays\u2019 decision to step away \u201cincredibly disappointing\u201d as it marks a fresh blow to international efforts to co-ordinate climate action.<\/p>\n
Assembled in 2021 by the UN Environment Programme\u2019s finance initiative but led by banks, the NBZA commits members to align their lending, investment and capital markets activities with cutting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.<\/p>\n
In a statement published online on Friday, Barclays said: \u201cAfter consideration, we have decided to withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the departure of most of the global banks, the organisation no longer has the membership to support our transition.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bank said it remains committed to its ambition to be a net zero bank by 2050 as well as its targets to cut financed emissions, and to mobilise 1 trillion US dollars of sustainable and transition financing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to work with our clients on their transition, finance the transition and scale climate tech, while helping to ensure energy security for our customers and clients,\u201d the lender said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an important commercial opportunity for Barclays; in 2024, we generated approximately half a billion pounds in revenues from sustainable and transition-related activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bank made the announcement three days after it published an update to its climate transition plans, which reiterated its green commitments.<\/p>\n
Jeanne Martin, co-director of corporate engagement at ShareAction, which campaigns for responsible investment, said Friday\u2019s announcement has therefore sent \u201cmixed signals\u201d to governments and companies around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarclays\u2019 decision to leave the NZBA is incredibly disappointing and a step in the wrong direction at a time when the dangers of climate change are rapidly mounting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the financial risks of global heating multiply and climate impacts like heatwaves, floods and extreme weather events become more intense and frequent, we cannot afford half-measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cResponsible investors will be watching closely and raising the pressure on the bank to protect long-term economic prosperity and the livelihoods of people everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Story Continues <\/p>\n
The corporate world\u2019s retreat from diversity policies and green commitments has accelerated since Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House.<\/p>\n
Six of the largest US banks \u2013 JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs \u2013 all left the NZBA following his election in November.<\/p>\n
But UK banks had stuck with the alliance until HSBC announced its departure this month.<\/p>\n
With Barclays now leaving, British lenders listed as NBZA members as of Friday afternoon still include Lloyds, NatWest, Standard Chartered and Nationwide.<\/p>\n
The alliance said its members have been making \u201cimportant progress\u201d with well over 100 banks setting individual and independent science-based targets for their financed emissions.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said: \u201cNZBA remains focused on delivering on the future vision overwhelmingly endorsed by member banks a few months ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is supporting its members to lead on climate by addressing the barriers preventing their clients from investing in the net-zero transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the largest global initiative specifically focused on supporting climate mitigation action by banks, NZBA is uniquely positioned to provide the practical support banks need to grasp the opportunities and manage the risks of the move to net zero.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barclays has become the second UK bank to leave the industry\u2019s global alliance for setting climate targets. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[8669,748,113431,22209,67213,393,113430,33549,4884,4175,113428,1144,113429,113432,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-310236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-barclays","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-british-institution","12":"tag-climate-action","13":"tag-climate-tech","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-global-alliance","16":"tag-global-banks","17":"tag-great-britain","18":"tag-greenhouse-gas-emissions","19":"tag-net-zero-banking-alliance","20":"tag-northern-ireland","21":"tag-nzba","22":"tag-responsible-investment","23":"tag-scotland","24":"tag-uk","25":"tag-united-kingdom","26":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114955596824813809","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}