Net-Zero Banking Alliance Founded by Mark Carney Votes to Dissolve

Mark Carney speaks during the Canada 2020 Net-Zero Leadership Summit in Ottawa on April 19, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

A global banking alliance founded by Prime Minister Mark Carney in 2021 to prioritize lending and investment to meet net-zero emissions targets has voted to end its operations.

The U.N.-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) says members voted to end the membership-based structure and instead use the climate guidance the group created as a reference. The alliance is disbanding immediately, after having already suspended its work at the end of August.

The alliance was launched by Carney in his role as U.N. Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance in the lead-up to the U.N. climate conference in 2021. It initially brought together around 140 large banks from around the world, with net assets valued at over $70 trillion.

NZBA aimed to standardize how banks set emissions targets and align lending and investment practices toward net zero by 2050.

A number of banks began to leave the alliance in the weeks ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, including TD Bank, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC, and National Bank, followed by RBC. The banks said they would continue their emissions-focused work without needing to be part of the group.

“We have robust internal capabilities to implement relevant international standards, supporting our climate strategy and meeting regulatory requirements,” BMO spokesperson Jeff Roman said in January in commenting on the bank’s departure from the alliance.

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, also exited the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative in January, citing “recent developments in the U.S.”

In his remarks to the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23, U.S. President Donald Trump said that countries that have pursued the “green energy” transition and adopted open border policies are “going to hell.”

Trump charged that green energy policies are a “scam” that don’t help the environment but instead “redistribute manufacturing and industrial activity from developed countries” and benefit “polluting countries that break the rules and are making a fortune.”

In a press conference Sept. 23, Carney said that the United States’ move away from net-zero policies presents “a great opportunity for Canada.”

“We can offer solutions, and if currently that’s not in the interest of Americans, we are lucky,” Carney said.

Calling the dissolution of the alliance “great news” in an Oct. 3 post on X, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that the group “was a money-grubbing scheme to enrich global bankers while shutting down oil and gas in Western countries.”

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.