Thursday 22 April 2021

Mark Carney to head up Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero

Mark Carney to head up Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero

Mark Carney is to head up a new forum to unite financial organisations in the fight against climate change - the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).

Launched alongside the UNFCCC Climate Action Champions, the UN Race to Zero campaign and the COP26 Presidency, the forum unites more than 160 firms responsible for assets in excess of $70 trillion (£50.4tn).

These firms are already part of various net zero initiatives from across the financial system - GFANZ will act as an umbrella gathering them together. The Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) has joined GFANZ, bringing with it 43 banks from 23 countries that have committed to aligning operational and attributable emissions from their portfolios with pathways to net-zero by 2050 or sooner.

GFANZ aims to expand Race to Zero’s existing campaign to establish credible net zero commitments covering the financial system and grow the number of financial institutions with "high ambition, credible, and transparent" climate commitments.

It will also ensure commitments are backed by interim targets, coordinate commitments and actions to support an economy-wide transition, advocate for green public policy and support technical collaboration to improve the alignment of investment and lending with net zero.

UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said: “Uniting the world’s banks and financial institutions behind the global transition to net zero is crucial to unlocking the finance we need to get there – from backing pioneering firms and new technologies to building resilient economies around the world. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero will lead this charge ahead of COP26 to scale-up our ambition, accelerate our shift and help us to build back greener together.”

Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance and Prime Minister Johnson’s Climate Finance Advisor for COP26, said: “This is the breakthrough in mainstreaming climate finance the world needs. I welcome the leadership of the SMI Financial Services Task Force and other global banks for their new commitments to net zero and for joining forces with GFANZ, the gold standard for net zero commitments in the financial sector. Most fundamentally, GFANZ will act as the strategic forum to ensure the financial system works together to broaden, deepen, and accelerate the transition to a net zero economy.”

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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