Tracking corporate shifts and exits from climate commitments
In recent months, there has been a noticeable shift in the corporate backing for climate commitments. The Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which once represented a important collective effort by global banks to align their operations with net-zero emissions by 2050, has experienced a significant pullback. Several major institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, and J.P. Morgan Chase, withdrawing from the alliance in late 2024 and early 2025. In April 2025, the NZBA decided to ditch its Paris-aligned 1.5 membership target. Political pressures, particularly in the U.S., have intensified as the Republican-led administration and state attorneys general have raised concerns about the potential legal and financial consequences of such climate pledges, including their impact on financing for the fossil fuel industry. This broader shift in policy priorities under the new U.S. administration further complicates the landscape, as companies face increasing scrutiny and opposition from both policymakers and investors.
At the same time, other corporate entities beyond the banking sector have reconsidered their climate strategies. In recent months, major energy companies including BP, Shell, and Equinor, have scaled back their energy transition ambitions, reducing investments in renewables and refocusing on oil and gas development amid investor pressure and shifting market dynamics.
Most recently, the activist group Follow This, which paused its campaign for stronger emissions reduction commitments from major oil and gas companies in April 2025. This decision was influenced by declining institutional support and evolving political dynamics.
Nonetheless, resistance to the diminishing of climate targets has been seen in a couple of cases: Triodos Bank left the NZBA after the alliance dropped its 1.5 degrees target; almost a quarter of BP shareholders rejected the BP chair on the grounds of dropping the company's climate commitments; and in late April the New York Pensions Funds increased its demands on net zero targets to its asset managers.
This story aims to keep track of the most recent developments on corporate shifts and back downs on climate commitments, including changes in investor and asset managers climate-related strategies.