Several Major U.S. Banks Exit Net-Zero Banking Alliance

On Tuesday, JPMorgan announced it would leave the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a self-described "group of leading global banks committed to aligning their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050."

The Details: JPMorgan's departure follows  Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo all leaving within the past month. The total assets of NZBA member banks went from $74 trillion in November to $61 trillion on January 8th, a decrease of 17.6%.

For Context: The United Nations convened the NZBA in April 2021. Attorneys general from 19 states, mostly Republican, investigated banks' membership in the alliance as a potential antitrust violation. In response to JPMorgan's announcement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he'd stop investigating the banks.

Key Quotes:

• A climate advocate told The Guardian (Lean Left), "The sudden exodus of these big US banks out of the NZBA is a lily-livered effort to avoid criticism from Trump and his climate denialist cronies."
• Per Reuters (Center), some of the banks still plan to pursue green targets. Morgan Stanley said it would "aim to contribute to real-economy decarbonization," and JPMorgan said it would "remain focused on pragmatic solutions."

How the Media Covered It: Media on the left framed the exits as a capitulation to corporate interests and emphasized that the NZBA still held significant power. Media on the right framed the news positively and portrayed the alliance as severely weakened by the exits.

Why the Difference? Generally, fiscally liberal people tend to support corporate anti-pollution initiatives, and positive coverage of these may satisfy their preconceived notions. Fiscally conservative people are more skeptical of these initiatives and may be satisfied by more negative coverage of them.