The Net-Zero Banking Alliance, launched by Mark Carney in 2021, has voted to shut down amidst ongoing political pressures and organizational challenges. This global banking group aimed to unite financial institutions in the fight against climate change by committing to make their portfolios net-zero by 2050. Unfortunately, this alliance closed its doors on October 3, 2025. This closure represents a huge retreat from the climate finance progress made in the lead-up to the UN climate conference that year.
Mark Carney, the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance established the alliance. His aspiration was to encourage banks globally to adopt more sustainable behaviours. The initiative attracted dozens of the world’s top banks, including Canada’s Big Six: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal (BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), and National Bank of Canada. These banks committed themselves to moving their lending and investment portfolios in line with climate goals including net-zero emissions by 2050.
Though incredibly ambitious in intent, the Net-Zero Banking Alliance encountered major challenges from the very start. Political pressure coming from U.S. Republicans dramatically ramped up scrutiny on the group, resulting in a tsunami of withdrawals from major banks. This is especially striking given that some of the largest U.S. banks withdrew from the alliance right before Donald Trump was sworn into office in January 2021. Canadian banks are taking huge steps! This worked up until this January, when RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC and National Bank announced their simultaneous exits from this alliance.
Yet political resistance has only grown, causing additional withdrawals. In light of this trend, it is essential to ask whether the financial sector has any hope of delivering on collective climate targets. Member banks found it nearly impossible to stick together under constant outside pressure, and over time, they reached the conclusion that they needed to dissolve the alliance.
