Several major US banks are threatening to leave an alliance led by United Nations climate envoy Mark Carney. There are concerns about legal risks, business newspaper Financial Times reports based on sources. These include JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
Carney, 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 $ 130 trillion has made commitments around emissions and climate targets.
But according to the Financial Times, the US banks are worried about lawsuits because of those climate goals of GFANZ and therefore have doubts whether they still want to stay with that alliance. For example, banks can be held liable if certain UN climate criteria are not met. There are also concerns about the requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding disclosure of risks for banks related to climate change.
The banks also complain that the demands imposed on them are not sufficiently supported by efforts by governments in the field of climate. 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.
The alliance has more than five hundred members from more than 45 countries. The Dutch financial institutions ING, Triodos Bank, Achmea and NN Group are also members.
