Not long ago, America’s largest banks were racing to prove their climate credentials, signing on to high-profile pledges and alliances aimed at cutting emissions across the financial system.
That era of Wall Street’s green enthusiasm is now rapidly fading.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo have all left the Net Zero Banking Alliance, according to a new report from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
There is a key caveat, however: the withdrawals are not a fresh wave of exits. Most occurred in 2024 and early 2025, and the alliance officially scrapped its membership structure in October 2025.
What the report does highlight is the scale of Wall Street’s broader pullback from the web of climate-focused coalitions that once held major sway across corporate America.
The Committee to Unleash Prosperity says backing for major “net zero” efforts — initiatives designed to balance carbon emissions with carbon offsets — has fallen by nearly 90 percent among the financial institutions it reviewed over the past four years.
Jerry Bowyer, CEO of Bowyer Research and one of the study’s authors, told Our News Outlet that the retreat marks a significant change in how Wall Street approaches climate policy.
America’s largest banks once vied to showcase their commitment to climate action, but Wall Street’s green rush is now moving in the opposite direction
‘The net-zero finance boom really began around 2020 and 2021,’ Bowyer said.
‘The finance industry was still treating net zero as the price of admission to polite global opinion. Then reality intruded.’
He said energy demand, fiduciary responsibilities, antitrust concerns, political pressure and the practical limitations of transforming the world’s energy system had all contributed to the reversal.
‘The laws of physics and engineering do not bend to ESG branding,’ he said.
The Net Zero Banking Alliance was launched in 2021 and grew rapidly, reaching 140 banks representing $75.5 trillion in assets as recently as November 2024. But the biggest US players soon began walking away.
Goldman Sachs exited in December 2024, followed by other major American banks. By October 2025, the alliance had stopped operating as a membership organization and instead became a provider of voluntary climate guidance.
The latest report argues that the retreat has become far broader than a handful of high-profile departures.
Bowyer told Our News Outlet that the trend became ‘unmistakable’ in late 2024 and early 2025 and the banking alliance had ‘lost many of the institutions that gave it credibility.’
The shift is also visible among the world’s biggest asset managers.
The retreat does not mean that Wall Street has abandoned environmental concerns altogether. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Pimco and Citigroup as among those retaining stronger links with environmental groups
Jerry Bowyer, CEO of Bowyer Research, told Our News Outlet that the retreat represents a fundamental shift in the way Wall Street views climate policy
The Net Zero Asset Managers initiative once had more than 300 members overseeing almost $60 trillion. It suspended operations in January 2025 after BlackRock and other major US firms withdrew, before relaunching in October with less demanding membership requirements and a greater focus on guidance.
Climate Action 100+, another major environmental coalition, has also lost prominent financial institutions, including JPMorgan, State Street and BlackRock’s US operations.
The retreat does not mean that Wall Street has abandoned environmental concerns altogether. Some banks still publish extensive sustainability policies, maintain emissions reporting systems or remain members of less prominent climate organizations.
The report identifies Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Pimco and Citigroup as among those retaining stronger links with environmental groups. Bowyer said this distinction is important.
‘Firms will keep some climate language for public relations purposes, but the grandiose alliance model has been badly damaged,’ he said.
‘The more serious institutions will move back toward fiduciary duty, energy realism, and client choice. They may not all admit that net zero failed, but their behavior is already saying it.’
JPMorgan, for example, continues to have substantial sustainability material on its website despite leaving the major alliances.
Wells Fargo has gone further. In February 2025, it abandoned sector-specific 2030 financed-emissions targets and its goal of achieving net-zero financed emissions by 2050, according to the report.
The bank said at the time that many of the conditions needed to help its clients transition had not occurred.
Meanwhile, Vanguard was an early defector from the asset-management initiative, leaving in December 2022.
The political environment has also changed dramatically. In October 2022, 19 state attorneys general launched an antitrust investigation into six major US banks over their involvement in the Net Zero Banking Alliance.
Bowyer believes politics played a role in the retreat – but argues it was only part of the story.
‘The politics got them into these groups,’ he said. ‘Physics and economics got them out.’
He said the change began before the administration changed hands, describing it as ‘a steady progression away from the radical climate change policies, including net zero.’
There is another force making the old Wall Street climate commitments increasingly difficult to maintain: artificial intelligence. The explosion in AI is creating enormous demand for electricity as technology companies race to build vast data centers
There is another force making the old Wall Street climate commitments increasingly difficult to maintain: artificial intelligence. The explosion in AI is creating enormous demand for electricity as technology companies race to build vast data centers.
That is forcing the US to confront an awkward reality. While financial institutions may want to reduce exposure to fossil fuels, the technology driving the latest economic boom requires huge amounts of reliable power – and gas and other conventional energy sources remain part of that equation.
For Bowyer, this is one of the clearest examples of why he believes the net-zero model is running into practical limits.
‘Modern economies run on energy, and energy systems cannot be transformed by press release,’ he said.
‘The path to a cleaner and more prosperous economy is innovation, abundance, and competition, not coercive decarbonization targets.’
The shift represents a striking reversal from the early 2020s, when ESG – environmental, social and governance investing – was one of the biggest trends in finance.
US ESG and environmentally focused funds attracted around $485 billion in 2021, according to Bloomberg Intelligence figures. By 2025, those funds had suffered $82 billion in outflows.
But declaring ESG or climate investing dead would be premature. European investors remain considerably more engaged with climate issues, while some US financial institutions continue to maintain emissions targets and sustainability programs.
Instead, what appears to be disappearing is the idea that every major Wall Street institution needs to belong to the same high-profile climate coalition. Bowyer believes that process could continue.
‘Wall Street’s retreat from net zero is the market correcting a political mistake,’ he said.
