Big Banks Quit Climate Change Groups Ahead of Trumps Term

As the second presidency of Donald J.Trump begins, America’s largest banks and asset managers have abandoned one of the most overt symbols of their commitment to reaching green goals: climate action networks.In the month leading up to Mr.

Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the six largest U.S.banks, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, left their Net Zero Banking Alliance, while BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, quit a similar initiative.

And on Friday, the Federal Reserve withdrew from a network of regulators that studied climate change risk.The exodus comes after years of growing political and legal pressure to ditch environmental, social and governance goals.The climate groups, which encouraged targets for reducing carbon emissions and financing the transition to the green economy, had drawn the ire of some Republican lawmakers.Mr.

Trump has also taken aim at government efforts to pursue climate change policies.“The political environment has radically changed,” said Shivaram Rajgopal, a professor at Columbia Business School.“If you are the C.E.O.

of one of these large banks, if you stay in one of these alliances, you’re just opening yourself up to litigation risk.It’s like you have a bull’s-eye on your back.”The departures follow a pattern of steps taken by business leaders to avoid collision with the Trump administration.

This month, the social media giant Meta ended its fact-checking program and added an ally of Mr.Trump’s to its board.Less than four years ago, banks, asset managers and insurers clamored to show off their green credentials, joining global initiatives that sought to speed up climate action.

At COP26, the United Nations climate summit in 2021, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero was introduced to bring together firms that collectively controlled $130 trillion in assets.It became an umbrella group for net zero alliances with requirements that were not too stringent to allow as many members as possible...