Barclays follows HSBC in exit from banking industry’s net zero alliance

By Paul Homewood

Another bank sees the light!

From the Guardian:

Barclays has become the second UK bank to withdraw from a UN-backed net zero target-setting group, claiming that a wave of defections by international lenders meant it was no longer fit for purpose.

It marks a fresh blow for the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), after HSBC left in early July. It came months after a wave of exits by US banks, which departed in the run-up to Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

Lenders and other finance firms have come under fresh pressure over their green commitments as a result of Trump’s return to the White House, which caused a climate backlash as he pushed for higher production of oil and gas.

The UN environment programme’s finance initiative, which is led by banks, required members to ensure their lending, investment and capital markets activities would lead them to hitting net zero emissions targets by 2050 or earlier.

However, Barclays said it was no longer effective, given it no longer counted some of the world’s biggest lenders as members. The US lenders who cancelled their membership at the start of the year include JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Barclays said in a statement on Friday afternoon: “After consideration, we have decided to withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance. With the departure of most of the global banks, the organisation no longer has the membership to support our transition.”

Full story here.

It’s actually much simpler than the Guardian suggests

At the outset, banks smelt the lure of bountiful subsidies for anything Net Zero related. One by one, they are now realising that they cannot make a profit out of the Net Zero scam without those subsidies, which could dry up any time, just as they are now in Trump’s US.