Pirate's Cove

Let’s be honest: most of these firms, and most companies, are not really doing all that much, maybe slightly more than lip service, trying to please the Cult of Climastrology and Warmist politicians. Hence why the Warmists came up with the term “greenwashing”. Not sure why Warmists are complaining, because most of them do little to nothing in their own lives

Wall Street’s Biggest Names Are Backing Off Their Climate Commitments

Shortly before COP26, last year’s United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, financial institutions were rushing to announce their climate commitments. The conference’s leadership and Mark Carney, a special envoy appointed by the United Nations to push private finance to invest in climate solutions, announced the creation of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero, or GFANZ.

The initiative’s goal was to increase the number of financial institutions committed to net-zero principles — essentially a promise that the work done by these institutions (investing, lending money, managing major assets like pension funds) would not cause an overall increase in the world’s carbon emissions. During the conference, Carney announced that the coalition had grown to 450 firms responsible for $130 trillion in assets, a pot of wealth equivalent to more than five times the gross domestic product of the United States. (snip)

But just a year later, many Wall Street firms are backtracking. In September, the Financial Times reported that several banks, including Bank of America and JP Morgan, were concerned about accidentally running afoul of United Nations climate rules and being held legally liable for their commitments, leading them to consider pulling out of GFANZ. Blackrock and Vanguard, the world’s largest asset managers, then confirmed in October that their net zero commitments would not preclude them from investing in fossil fuels, despite concerns that new fossil fuel investment is incompatible with timely decarbonization. (Asset managers steward money on behalf of major investors like sovereign wealth funds, insurers, and pension funds.) And finally, earlier this week, Vanguard officially announced that it is resigning from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, a sector-specific alliance under the GFANZ umbrella.

It’s a long piece, but, let’s face it, so many of these companies are realizing this is all just very silly, and with economy issues around the world it is time to focus on doing business properly, not pandering to the climate nuts. Most consumers couldn’t care less about any pledges. They’re tired of spending money for nothing, and still having the climate cult giving them hell. The people who run these companies are not dummies, and aren’t seeing a return for those pledges. Is this a big crack? Or just an aberration? Time will tell.