State Agriculture Officials Fear That Wall Street’s Net Zero Pledges Will Hurt America’s Farmers

Three combines harvest the winter wheat on a farm near Roggen, Colo. on July 9, 2009. (Ed Andrieski/AP Photo)

Agriculture commissioners from 12 states have issued a letter to Wall Street’s largest banks, demanding answers about their pledges to achieve the United Nations’ net-zero goals, and what effect this will have on farm loans and America’s ability to feed itself.

The Jan. 29 letter cites the banks’ membership in the U.N. Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and the coinciding pledge that the loans they make will “align with pathways to net-zero by mid-century or sooner.”

The alliance further commits members to ensure that they and their customers track and disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“Implementing these commitments would have severe consequences for American farmers—including cutting America’s beef and livestock consumption in half,” state agriculture officers wrote. 

“At the end of the day, agriculture is national security, and if we’re not able to feed ourselves as a nation, we’re not able to protect ourselves,” Tyler Harper, Georgia agriculture commissioner and a signer of the letter, told The Epoch Times.

“When you look at Sri Lanka and the devastating impacts that [climate mandates] had there, you look at the Netherlands and what they did to implement some of these policies there and the devastating impact it had on their ag economy—we’ve seen the impacts that this had in other nations and we don’t want that to happen here.”

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In 2019, following UNEP’s recommendations, the Sri Lankan government implemented the Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management, which dramatically reduced the use of synthetic fertilizers in that country.

Consequently, crop yields collapsed, leading to food shortages less than two years into the program, and sparking violent protests that ultimately drove that government from power. 

Attempts to implement net-zero policies in the Netherlands sparked widespread protests from farmers that received strong public support.

In March 2023, the Farmer-Citizen Movement rode a wave of public antipathy toward net-zero policies and won a majority position in the country’s senate elections. 

The letter from agriculture officials was sent to Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, all of which are members of the NZBA.

It was signed by officials from Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Georgia, North Dakota, Iowa, South Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia. 

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 10 percent of America’s GHG emissions come from agriculture.

While reducing GHG emissions has been a top priority of the Biden administration and global organizations like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, food prices in America have increased by 20 percent since President Joe Biden took office.

This is according to official statistics, though many consumers believe that food prices have increased well beyond official numbers. 

“Agriculture is a very capital-intensive industry that requires the ability to have operating loans and lines of credit for farmers across the country,” Mr. Harper said.

And it goes beyond farmers to include seed manufacturers, dealers, and equipment makers. 

While farmers can often turn to local and community banks for credit, lending decisions by global Wall Street banks still affect them.

Net-zero criteria, including a requirement to account for GHG emissions, in loans to large corporations like John Deere that supply the agriculture industry, or food companies like Nestle that buy from them, will have an impact on farmers as well.

“If they push these policies down on those entities, at the end of the day, that policy is going to reach the family farm,” Mr. Harper said, “whether they’re directly involved with that bank or not.”

The commitments that banks made as NZBA members will require them to have emissions targets in place for agricultural clients this year, the commissioners stated. 

“With this deadline upon us, we request information and documents related to your commitments,” state agriculture officials wrote.

“We are deeply troubled that your banks have given the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) authority to ‘review’ and ‘monitor’ your banks’ climate targets for ‘consistency’ with U.N. criteria, especially given the UNEP’s leading role in inciting Sri Lanka to adopt its disastrous fertilizer ban.”

Bank Commitments on Emissions

While state officials say they have not yet seen a major shift in the banks’ lending criteria toward farmers and ranchers, the recipients of their letter have made commitments to do so, officials say.

Citibank states on its website that “Citi has committed to achieving net zero emissions associated with our financing activities by 2050,” and Citibank produces annual reports regarding its “efforts towards implementing the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).”

Bank of America states: “Bank of America was an early supporter of the TCFD recommendations. As one of the world’s largest financial institutions, we are committed to ensuring that climate-related risks and opportunities are properly managed within our business.”

JPMorgan Chase states on its website that it “is working to align key sectors of our financing portfolio with limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, above pre-industrial levels.” 

However, a bank spokesperson told The Epoch Times that “JPMorgan Chase does not have an agriculture emissions intensity reduction target. We make our own banking, lending, and underwriting decisions and don’t relinquish decision-making to third parties.”

Wells Fargo states: “Wells Fargo has set a goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, including client emissions attributable to our financing.”

State agriculture officials demanded that the banks “explain if and how you plan to achieve net zero in your agriculture lending portfolio [and] how you consider greenhouse gas emissions or other decarbonization-related risk criteria in making lending decisions related to agriculture.”

They are also seeking details on what commitments the banks have made to NZBA and what role the UNEP may have played in influencing their lending criteria for farmers and ranchers.

They have set a deadline of Feb. 16 for the banks to reply. 

The letter from agricultural commissioners follows a similar one from state attorneys general and financial officers to the members of various U.N. climate clubs—including NZBA, the Net Zero Insurers Alliance, the Net Zero Asset Managers Alliance, and the Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance—questioning them about how they intend to fulfill their net-zero pledges.

State AGs also raised questions regarding violations of U.S. and state antitrust laws, which prohibit companies from colluding against other companies or industries. 

The Epoch Times contacted JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo for comment regarding this article. Citibank and Bank of America declined to comment.

Wells Fargo did not respond as of press time.