The Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) is officially dead, though its ghost will live on in the form of a publicly available “framework.” The organization announced it was ceasing operations after its members voted to “transition” away from a formal alliance, a decision forced by a catastrophic loss of membership and political will.
The will to remain in the alliance evaporated in the heat of a new political climate in the United States. Following the re-election of Donald Trump, an aggressive “anti-woke” movement put intense pressure on corporations with environmental commitments, making membership in the NZBA a liability.
The first to lose their will were the six titans of Wall Street. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and their peers decided the political battle was not one they wanted to fight, and so they withdrew. This departure of the industry’s most powerful players was a clear sign that the collective will had been broken.
The loss of will proved to be a global pandemic. Banks in Europe and Japan, seeing the weakened state of the alliance, also decided to pull their support. The recent exits of UK giants HSBC and Barclays were the final symptoms of a terminal decline in commitment.
So while the framework of guidance and documentation remains, the spirit and substance of the alliance are gone. A framework without the collective will to implement, champion, and enforce it is little more than a set of suggestions. Critics argue this proves that true progress requires not just a framework, but a foundation of non-negotiable government regulation.