States hold the key to crushing the climate cartel for good
The green dream collides with the hard truths of supply, demand, and physics
The dominoes are falling, and the message is clear: The Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAMI), once pillars of the globalist climate agenda, are crumbling. BlackRock, Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley have joined the exodus of major financial institutions from the NZAMI and NZBA. This is a seminal moment for energy sobriety and the American people, but it’s not time for a victory lap. The fight for our energy future and economic freedom is far from over.
The Net Zero Illusion
The NZAMI launched in 2020, and the NZBA, launched in 2021 as part of the United Nations Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), were cartels by design. Spearheaded by former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, GFANZ sought to conscript private capital to align lending and investment decisions with the Net Zero by 2050 agenda in the Paris Agreement. The goal of GFANZ is straightforward economic blackmail: Comply with the Paris Agreement or lose access to the global financial system.
However, the energy crisis prompted by the war in Ukraine and the end of near-zero interest rates has proven how economically unsustainable the Net Zero agenda is. Automakers are scaling back electric vehicle production targets. Offshore wind projects are being shelved as unprofitable. Even in deep-blue California, utilities are extending the life of coal and natural gas facilities to keep the lights on. The green dream collides with the hard truths of supply, demand, and physics.
Why Are Financial Giants Jumping Ship from the GFANZ?
The answer is simple: Legal and political pressure combined with changing consumer sentiment. Red-state attorneys general, led by Texas’s Ken Paxton, have notified these banks and asset managers by suing BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard for stifling financing for coal production through similar Net Zero initiatives.
This isn’t just posturing. As the Life: Powered team explained in a 2021 research paper, the legal exposure under the Sherman Act and potential racketeering charges are real, and the banks know it.
Over a dozen states, starting with Texas in 2021, are amending their fiduciary standards and choosing not to do business with banks and investment firms that join these cartels. Companies are also wary of openly supporting progressive political causes that most of their customers oppose and being subject to consumer boycotts.
These state initiatives have been bolstered over the past year by congressional investigations and will be supported by a pro-energy Trump administration and an SEC led by a noted opponent of the climate cartel. When all these factors are combined, it’s no wonder institutions like BlackRock, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan are bailing.
No Time for Complacency
While the exits from GFANZ are encouraging, the fight against financial discrimination targeting the fossil fuel industry isn’t over—it’s just entering a new phase. These banks are ditching the alliance to reduce legal risks, not because they’ve seen the light. Morgan Stanley, for instance, reaffirmed its commitment to “real-economy decarbonization” even as it left the NZBA. Vanguard made similar statements in 2022 when it pulled out of the Net Zero Asset Managers pledge.
They’re counting on state lawmakers and litigators to lose focus, to pat themselves on the back for breaking the cartels while allowing financial firms to pursue their illegal decarbonization goals behind closed doors.
The incoming Trump administration must also take decisive action by investigating and holding individual firms accountable for violating their fiduciary duties. Every institution pushing radical climate policies must be forced to explain how their emissions mandates improve financial performance and serve investor interests. Spoiler alert: They can’t.
Making examples from a few key players will send a powerful message: Meddling in the American economy to enforce ideological agendas will not be tolerated.
The Net Zero agenda may be on the ropes, but it’s not dead. If policymakers stay vigilant and keep up the pressure, America can relegate Net Zero back to the ideological fringes where it belongs. Energy independence, economic growth, and American jobs depend on it. Let’s finish the fight.
Opinion Editorial Originally Published in The Washington Times, authored by
Brent Bennett, PhD is the policy director for Life:Powered, a national initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation to raise America’s energy IQ, and a senior fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics.
The Honorable Jason Isaac is the Founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute. He previously served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
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Well said. like you, I think they are gaming the game.... language has become a powerful tool and they are using it against us while smiling to our faces! Powerful propaganda is now the narrative.
I never understood, or rather I did, understand why we had to have a government backed Texas Energy Fund, not a fan!
With Texas being the 8th largest economy in the world, our legislators should have been able to put pressure on the banks to back these investments, but they didn't - easier to go out to a gullible and clueless public. I did mention that at a senate energy committee hearing, but there was of course no response to a little old lady!!!
Good article!