(Bloomberg) -- On Wall Street, there’s a new message making the rounds. It’s one that says reaching net zero may be as difficult as, say, driving through midtown Manhattan during the United Nations General Assembly.
Financiers in New York for Climate Week, which accompanies the UN gathering, have found themselves faced with the many “what-if” scenarios posed by a fast-warming planet. Simultaneously, Wall Street’s climate leaders have become increasingly vocal in saying that current net-zero goals (let alone decarbonizing the global economy) are near impossible to attain. And that they have limited power to help.
Conversations at Climate Week have centered on huge challenges such as what happens if financial institutions fail to meet their net-zero promises. And, more importantly, what if the world as a whole fails to attain the climate goals set by governments and business leaders.
For Heather Zichal, global head of sustainability at JPMorgan Chase & Co., the big question is when will there be an honest conversation about how the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping temperatures from rising more than 1.5C is already out of reach. What does that mean for the many companies and financial firms that have made commitments based on that almost-certain to be unfulfilled goal?
“I’m watching with bated breath the discussion around 1.5C,” Zichal said at a JPMorgan investors event Monday in New York. “Does that continue to be the target or is there an evolution in thinking?”
And if the goals change, “how does the public sector engage with the private sector in a conversation about what that means?” she said. “I think it will be more pivotal than probably a lot of people are thinking in terms of what it does to drive the policy conversation.”
There is real tension between what needs to happen to reach net-zero goals and the reality of where the global economy is today, Zichal said. “The world needs to be realistic about the challenges to closing that gap, what it would take, and who can help deliver,” she added. “We don't have all the answers to that question, but we do know everyone has a role.”
Wall Street banks finance Big Oil and the continued development and production of fossil fuels, whose burning causes global warming. The banks also have simultaneously spent years promising to attain net-zero emissions.
But lately, Wall Street has taken a new tack by attempting to change public perception about what it can do. Instead, banks are now saying their hands are largely tied when it comes to slowing global warming. Clients and their profits must come first.
Indeed, Zichal was keen to stress the need for government policymakers to push forward the transition to clean energy.
“There are a lot of things that we, as a bank, can control, but there are things that we can’t,” she said. “We’re focused on what we can control—facilitating capital.”
As far as banks are concerned, tackling climate change and its increasingly catastrophic effects on humanity is just one of many issues they consider important.
“It isn’t that it isn’t on their minds,” said Tom Montag, a Wall Street veteran who sits on the board of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “It’s one of many things to think about.”
Val Smith, Citigroup Inc.’s chief sustainability officer, cited the rapid development of renewables and the increasing focus on battery storage and “next-gen technologies” as signs of hope amid the planet’s worsening climate.
“It is normal in such a significant transition and transformation that we’re going to see steps forward and steps back, but the fundamental opportunity is holding steady and even seems to be growing,” she said.
Sustainable finance in brief
There’s more bad news for sustainability from Wall Street. The three biggest US money managers slashed their support of environmental and social shareholder proposals, marking a stark turnaround from 2021, when they voted in favor of a record number of such resolutions. State Street Corp.’s investing unit said on Thursday that it supported 6% of environmental shareholder proposals in the first half of the year and 7% of social ones, less than what it did in the same year-ago period. Vanguard Group said last month that it didn’t back any of those resolutions, while BlackRock Inc. said it voted for 4% of the proposals in the 12 months ending June, down from 7% a year earlier.
- What about green bonds? Almost all of those issued in the US fail to drive real action to tackle climate change, according to a new study.
- And carbon credits? Just 5% of more than 4,000 projects in the global market are considered high quality, says an analysis by MSCI Inc.
- While the Republican-led effort to kill ESG appears to be winning over Wall Street, a new survey shows two-thirds of asset owners say ESG has become “more material” for their operations.
Listen on Zero: How to Stop Banks’ Funding of Fossil Fuels, No Protests Required
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.