Mark Carney-launched Net-Zero Banking Alliance votes to shut down

TORONTO — A global banking group that Prime Minister Mark Carney helped launch in 2021 to fight climate change has voted to shut down.

A spokesperson for the UN-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance says members voted to end the membership-based structure and instead use the climate guidance the group created as a reference.

As a result of the vote, the alliance is ending operations immediately.

Carney helped establish the group in his role as UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance in the lead-up to the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021.

Morningstar DBRS said in a commentary last month that banks’ ability to quantify climate risks is increasingly key to addressing challenges posed by more frequent extreme weather events.

“Although actions today are unlikely to affect the pattern of weather events for the next decade, recent developments underscore clear delays in achieving a net zero target by 2050 and the prospects of rising physical risks,” it reads.

The banking alliance was a key pillar in the broader Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero that aimed to bring the financial sector on board with climate efforts.

At the time, Carney said the alliance would act as a strategic forum to ensure a broader, deeper and faster transition to a net zero economy.

The banking alliance had at its peak over 140 banks globally, including Canada’s Big Six banks, all committing to setting both shorter and longer-term decarbonization targets to help accelerate emissions reductions.

Sustained political pressure from U.S. Republicans led major U.S. banks to leave the alliance after the election of Donald Trump last November.

Canadian banks including RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC and National Bank all left the group in January, saying they would continue climate efforts outside the group.

More banks left as the year went on, including HSBC in July.

The frameworks created by the alliance, including guidance on how banks should set climate targets, will remain available, and work remains underway on how to best carry the climate finance efforts forward, said the spokesperson.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RY, TSX:TD, TSX:BMO, TSX:BNS, TSX:NA, TSX:CM)

The Canadian Press