Is there no end to the list of a***-licking, supine US companies? Reposted from Edie.
An outrageous abdication of responsibility’: Wells Fargo drops net-zero targets
Banking giant Wells Fargo & Co has abandoned a commitment to reach net-zero financed emissions, stating that it will instead “meet clients where they are in their chosen energy and transition strategies”.
Published 3rd March 2025
The US-based bank confirmed late last week that it will no longer strive to deliver net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It is also scrapping interim 2030 targets on financed emissions, which had been set on a sector-specific basis for several high-carbon sectors including steel, automotive manufacturing, aviation and oil and gas.
Financed emissions – those generated by the companies and projects which a bank supports – are the largest source of any large financial firm’s climate footprint. For example, Standard Chartered last week confirmed that its financed emissions account for more than 98% of its total emissions.
A statement from Wells Fargo said it is “adjusting our approach to focus on doing what banks do best – providing financing and expertise to help clients pursue their own objectives”.
The statement argues that the bank has always been clear that achieving its financed emissions targets would depend on “many factors outside our control”, including “public policy, consumer behavior, and technology changes”.
“Many of the conditions necessary to facilitate our clients’ transitions have not occurred,” it adds.
Market conditions will likely deteriorate further in the US in the coming years as President Donald Trump seeks to undo predecessor Joe Biden’s work to scale investment in renewable energy, electric vehicles and nature while unlocking more opportunities to expand fossil fuel production.
Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement for a second time, starkly reducing the proportion of global GDP covered by national-level climate targets.
Following last November’s US election, Wells Fargo and several of its peers withdrew from the Net Zero Banking Alliance. This trend also impacted similar collaborative initiatives including the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM), which in January suspended its activities as a result of the fallout.
Wells Fargo is maintaining an ambition to deploy $500bn in financing for low-carbon and otherwise sustainable activities by 2030. To date, $178bn has been deployed.
Environmental organisations have slammed Wells Fargo for its decision, which is the first of its kind from a bank of this scale. While HSBC weakened its net-zero targets last month, it ultimately kept some 2050 ambitions.
Sierra Club’s sustainable finance campaign director Ben Cushing said: “Wells Fargo’s decision to abandon its net-zero targets is an outrageous abdication of responsibility.
“Instead of using its significant influence to drive the energy transition and address the climate crisis, the bank is hiding behind the excuse that it can only passively follow its clients’ actions. Real-world decarbonization must happen across the economy, but banks play a critical role in shaping market dynamics through their financing and client engagement decisions.
“As the world’s fifth-largest financier of fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement, Wells Fargo has actively fuelled the climate crisis while now attempting to shift the blame onto everyone else. This retreat is both cowardly and shortsighted.”
Reclaim Finance’s senior analyst Paddy McCully added: “Wells Fargo is cravenly following the extreme anti-climate agenda of the Trump regime.
“While its emission targets, like its overall climate policies, were extremely weak, the bank at least recognised that it had a responsibility to act on climate. By saying now that it will just help its clients do their own thing, Wells Fargo is abdicating all of its climate responsibilities and saying that if its clients want to go ahead and cook the planet, Wells Fargo will be there for them.”
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