Nick Pope
Contributor
Citigroup is warning that more than 40% of their energy sector clients are unprepared for the “net-zero” emissions transition, according to the financial institution’s latest climate report.
Forty-two percent of the bank’s energy clients do not have a substantive emissions reduction plan, and an additional 29% have a plan that they may or may not be able to actually carry out, according to the 2023 Citi Climate Report, released Thursday. Only 8% of the firm’s clients in the energy sector have major emissions reductions plans and also the clear ability to execute those plans.
Citi — the fourth-largest bank in the U.S. — issued its climate report signaling that most energy clients may not be prepared to execute emissions reduction plans just weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a final rule requiring medium-sized and large public corporations to disclose climate change-related risks and data on the emissions created directly by their businesses in financial reports. (RELATED: John Podesta Cited A Major Investment Bank’s Solar Projections. There’s Just One Problem)
Citi determined its clients’ preparedness ratings by assessing a wide variety of factors, such as executive oversight of transition plans, the strength of emissions data and the share of capital investments dedicated to “transition-related activities,” according to the report’s description of the bank’s Net Zero Review Template.
Lenders are beginning to realize that they will not be able to comply with the mounting green regulatory regime in the financial sector over the long-term unless they start to quickly drop large numbers of clients, a move that could upend national and regional economies that are heavily reliant on fossil fuel production or use, according to Bloomberg News. Accordingly, many financial institutions are quietly beginning to backpedal on ambitious climate-related commitments.
“This is good news, because it shows that the immense amount of pressure that financial service industry cartels have tried to exert on the energy industry has not been especially successful, which is fantastic news for the consumer,” Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers’ Research, told the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding the Citi climate report. “That Citi is even measuring this suggests that they have a long way to go to get back to their core business, which is to provide financing for American and global industry.”
Major asset managers, such as State Street and Vanguard, have pushed environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investment and corporate management strategies in part by participating in asset manager coalitions with a shared commitment to decarbonizing business. JP Morgan’s asset management arm and State Street withdrew from one of these groups, known as Climate Action 100+, in February amid a congressional probe into the coalition examining whether it has facilitated illegal collusive behavior.
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Having even 8% of energy sector businesses trying to do an impossible program are too many.
From a pure SE Act of 1934, as amended, perspective ESG is federally illegal.
Corporations were supposed to maximize shareholder returns, period. That got bent in the 1970’s to balance ‘stakeholders’ returns: shareholders, customers, employees. The legal 1934 original text twisting logic was that shareholder returns could not be maximized ‘long term’ unless customer and employee needs were also considered. Employees on strike mean lost sales, lost sales means lost customers. And so on. Sort of long term shareholder returns by proxy. Except the SEA of 1934 said nothing about shareholder return time frames.
Gets to an old statutory interpretation SCOTUS joke: ‘What would Congress have back then thought about that about which they did not think?’ Core of the ‘original textualism’ raging SCOTUS debate triggered by late Justice Scalia in his textualism tome.
ESG is none of the above. Good that Citi is failing at implementation. I’d switch banks if was using Citi.
My bank, Natwest, closed the bank accounts of Nigel Farage for political reasons.
I closed my 30 years + accounts with Natwest and told them why I was not banking with them – political reasons lol
Could be better, but at 42% an encouraging number. Perhaps those companies (American domicile) are betting on a Trump win, at which point net-zero will be assigned to where it belongs, into landfill. Why waste time and money creating a nut-zero “plan”, when the plan itself will become redundant.
I can imagine a huge pile of folders labelled “Net-Zero Plan” collecting dust in the long forgotten closed offices of the defunct “ESG” departments of companies.
I wonder how many of the 58% just went to AI for a “substantive emissions reduction plan”. Presumably they don’t have to actually implement it.
Did not Vanguard and others drop out of those groups?
I thought Vanguard was one of the first to drop out of the ESG groups. This article only says State Street and JP Morgan. I would hope that The Daily Caller was up to date on who is in the despicable cabal.
Perhaps The Daily Caller could compile a list of the ones still in any ESG or DEI programs which would advertise which businesses to divest from.
Very nice. With each new article we are gaining the names of corporations and organizations to fund our work camps. Citigroup should be in the top.
What are you talking about?
I should have been more clear. I want corporal punishment for people who block roads, vandalize paintings and so on. Not many people here at WUWT think corporal punishment is appropriate. So I have suggested an alternative. Those found guilty of that kind of behavior should be sentenced to a work camp. Their work would be to dismantle and recycle wind and solar farms. They must live on site until they have completed their sentence. Housing will be provided, meals will be provided, basic healthcare will be provided, a day room will be provided and possibly a snack bar but no drugs or alcohol. It will be paid for by those who built the farms, those who financed the farms, those who authorized the farms and anyone else responsible for wind and solar farms. The one caveat is that no tax payer dollars can be used on or for the camps.
Take it to the Bank. Nobody will make Net Zero (whatever this latest Climate Hysteria means)👌😁
Huge Share Of Its Clients Are Not Ready To Reach Key Climate Targets
Surely they’ve cottoned on to the fact that it can’t be done?
I bet a lot of them have figured it out.
Don’t you love how Citi and these other lending institutions are doing Biden’s work for him.
What do they call it when the government and private enterprise collude for nefarious purposes?
I believe you are referring to Fascism.
I had a patient in the late 80’s who with a group that started a company called Quotron. They rented (not sold) software and computers to the stock market companies. (Of course this was very early in the computing game). Ross, my patient told me that when they were struggling each bought shares for 10cents/share. It later went to $128/share. Anyway the point is that Citibank bought the company and promptly ran it into the ground. The lesson is that bankers know nothing outside their area of expertise and recent bank failures show they don’t know much within their area of “expertise” either.
The culturally aware Beeb flies in and tries to colonize the President of Guyana-
Lefties losing it: BBC journalist ‘humbled’ by Guyana’s President on climate change (msn.com)
It’s hard enough for the flyover crowd in their own backyard but it’s important work making the community more aware of the dooming and what they have to stump up for-
‘Not a great look’: Prime Minister Albanese and Energy Minister Bowen blasted for taking two private jets to the same event | Sky News Australia
From the article: “Major asset managers, such as State Street and Vanguard, have pushed environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investment and corporate management strategies in part by participating in asset manager coalitions with a shared commitment to decarbonizing business. JP Morgan’s asset management arm and State Street withdrew from one of these groups, known as Climate Action 100+, in February amid a congressional probe into the coalition examining whether it has facilitated illegal collusive behavior.”
Private companies enforcing government mandates. Yes, it sounds like a criminal enterprise to me. It *should* be probed by Congress.
There’s a lot of illegal collusion going on between Big Business and the Biden administration. And it’s not just the banks, its social media, too.
Time for shareholders to hold these financial institutions responsible for willfully ignoring their legally binding fiduciary duties. Stirp them of all their money personally, make it f*cking hurt.
I think that removing financial institutions from voting using their clients accounts would greatly curb their fascist influence. I think financial institutions should only be voting with the corporation’s board by proxy.
A financial institution’s whole purpose is to bring value to their clients, not try to change corporate actions. If they don’t think a corporation fits into their portfolio mix then they can sell the shares and buy something else.
From what I can see, these financial institutions are attempting to force all businesses to conform to an ideology that would make businesses less profitable. That would be counter to a fiduciary’s responsibility.
I suspect their clients are also not ready for the arrival of pixies, gnomes, elves and unicorns on their doorstep this evening. They are most likely devoting their energies to preparing for things that occur in the real universe we inhabit.