Several major US banks are threatening to leave an alliance led by United Nations climate envoy Mark Carney. There are concerns about legal risks. That reports business newspaper Financial Times citing sources.
These include banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
Carney, the former governor of the British central bank, set up the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) last year. That UN alliance of banks, insurers and asset managers with jointly managed assets of USD 130 trillion has made commitments around emissions and climate targets.
But according to the Financial Times, US banks are concerned about lawsuits over GFANZ’s climate goals and therefore have doubts about whether they want to stay with that alliance. For example, banks can be held liable if specific UN climate criteria are unmet. There are also concerns about the requirements of the US stock watchdog SEC regarding disclosure of risks for banks related to climate change.
The banks also complain that government efforts on climate change do not sufficiently support their demands. They also believe that there are too few members at GFANZ from countries with high emissions, such as China and India.
GFANZ has previously said it will release a series of documents to help members of the group achieve climate goals ahead of a UN climate summit in Egypt in November.