There are several positives to take away from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance’s (NZBA’s) progress report, its first since the group was launched in April 2021. For instance, 90% of member banks that were due to submit intermediate 2030 net-zero targets by October 21 had done so by the end of that month. The alliance has also expanded from 43 banks to 122, representing $72tn in assets — an estimated 40% of the global industry’s total.
But there are also those who suggest the NZBA’s progress so far has not been remotely good enough. Responsible investment campaign group ShareAction published its own assessment describing the targets from many of the alliance’s largest banks as “inadequate”. It also highlighted a lack of what it describes as “overarching” interim targets to ensure emissions reductions are on track for 2030, a lack of targets for some emissions-heavy sectors and inconsistent metrics.
