Financial giant Morgan Stanley is the latest bank to depart the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), according to a company spokesperson.
The UN-backed initiative represents a group of financial institutions dedicated to “financing ambitious climate action.” NZBA writes via its website it aims to push the economy toward net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050.
In a statement Thursday, Morgan Stanley explained that its decision to leave the group would not alter its commitment to improving the climate.
“Morgan Stanley’s commitment to net-zero remains unchanged,” a spokesperson said Thursday. “We aim to contribute to real-economy decarbonization by providing our clients with the advice and capital required to transform business models and reduce carbon intensity.
“We will continue to report on our progress as we work towards our 2030 interim financed emissions targets.”
Morgan Stanley is the latest in a mass exodus of banks from the agreement. Also quitting NZBA recently was Citigroup and Bank of America, which both departed on Tuesday. Goldman Sachs Group and Wells Fargo had dropped from the coalition in December.
NZBA’s goals drew the ire of state agriculture officials last year, who decried the plan in a letter to the heads of several major banks involved in the compact, including Morgan Stanley.
“Implementing these commitments would have severe consequences for American farmers — including cutting America’s beef and livestock consumption in half, switching to inefficient electric farm equipment, and moving away from the nitrogen fertilizer necessary for American agriculture to thrive,” the letter read. “Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture requires a complete overhaul of on-farm infrastructure — one of the goals of the NZBA. This would have a catastrophic impact on our farmers.”
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, one of the letter’s signees, said in a statement the banks’ alliance with NZBA was “a politically motivated attempt to appear environmentally sensitive.”
“I am deeply troubled by the lack of rationale for jeopardizing the well-being of agriculture producers and the food systems they support,” he said. “If we do not move quickly to halt this globalist agenda, we will lose our farmers and ranchers and without them, there is no food. This policy must be stopped at all costs.”
NZBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Morgan Stanley’s decision.
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