Morgan Stanley has pulled out of a deal on Mark Carney’s Net Zero Banking Alliance
Mark Carney’s first move to encourage the financial sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has hit another hurdle after Morgan Stanley became the latest US lender to leave the Net Zero Banking Alliance.
The American investment bank follows other Wall Street giants, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America, in leaving the group in recent weeks.
Their exit hurts the coalition, which is part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero co-led by Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England. Carney launched a coalition in April 2021 to encourage banks, insurance companies, and asset managers to reverse funding of high-emissions projects and invest in cleaner alternatives.
However, Morgan Stanley insists it remains committed to its overall goals, stating that its mission to end the “real economy” by advising and financing green business models continues unabated. The bank did not specify why it withdrew.
The Glasgow coalition has faced growing pressure from Republican politicians in the United States, who have criticized net zero plans as dangerous to the energy sector and wider economic interests. This opposition has led insurance companies and asset managers to leave the climate groups that live under the umbrella of the alliance.
Carney, who left the Bank of England in 2020, initially hailed the group as a breakthrough in climate finance, designed to guide the world’s major financial institutions in supporting the transition to a fully decentralized economy. Yet the latest high-profile departures underscore the political and commercial challenges that remain.
