London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

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.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×