Wall Street abandons net-zero climate alliance prior to Trump's presidency.

The net-zero climate alliance that was investigated by Republican lawmakers last year has been abandoned by Wall Street's largest banks, which made the announcement just before President-elect Trump's inauguration.

Since 2021, major banks have been part of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a worldwide coalition of financial institutions dedicated to funding bold climate action to transform the economy into zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Since December, six of the world's largest banks, including J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Bank of America, have all separately announced their departure from the alliance, which promotes its member banks to set and achieve science-based, net-zero targets.

The banks stated that they will independently fulfill their emission reduction targets, despite their commitment to them.

A spokesperson for J.P. Morgan, who recently withdrew from the alliance, stated that the bank will continue to work independently to advance the interests of its Firm, shareholders, and clients while remaining focused on practical solutions to promote low-carbon technologies and energy security.

On Thursday, BlackRock, the world's largest investment firm, announced its separation from the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, a major climate group that aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier with the help of asset managers.

The coincidence of the exits occurs right before Trump, who is predicted to abandon Biden's greenhouse gas emissions reduction objective and possibly withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, assumes the presidency.

Paddy McCully, a senior analyst at Reclaim Finance, stated that the sudden departure of big US banks from the NZBA is a cowardly attempt to evade criticism from Trump and his climate change denialist allies, according to the Guardian.

"When climate change was a top political issue, banks were eager to showcase their efforts to address it. However, with the political climate shifting, acting on climate is no longer a priority for Wall Street lenders."

A year after a House Republican group launched an investigation into six banks over their involvement in an international alliance affecting agriculture, the exits were announced.