GFANZ

The six largest US banks, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citi, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley have each announced their departure from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a group of leading global banks committed to aligning their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. In Canada, TD, BMO, and National Bank announced their withdrawal from the NZBA earlier today. RBC has also indicated that it is open to leaving the alliance. We anticipate significant changes in the NZBA and additional withdrawals over the coming days. Major US asset managers are also leaving other UN-convened climate coalitions, including the recently announced departure of BlackRock from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM), a multi-trillion dollar international group of asset managers committed to supporting the goal of net zero GHG emissions by 2050. Following BlackRock’s departure, a statement issued by NZAM on Monday indicates that it is suspending activities while the initiative undergoes review “to ensure NZAM remains fit for purpose in the new global context.” Both NZBA and NZAM are organizations under the umbrella of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), co-chaired by Michael Bloomberg and Mark Carney. For further information or to discuss the contents of this bulletin, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) on Monday announced a series of significant initiatives, strategic partnerships, and collaborations aimed at harmonizing sustainability reporting requirements for companies. The ISSB provided updates on its new two-year work plan, which focuses on further harmonization and consolidation of the disclosure landscape in response to market demand. Key areas of focus include corporate climate transition plans and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions measurement across the value chain. This bulletin highlights the key initiatives, strategic partnerships, and collaborations being pursued by the ISSB. Harmonizing disclosures about transition plans. The ISSB indicated that it intends to streamline and consolidate frameworks and standards for disclosures about transition plans. This work is expected to align with the ISSB’s focus over the next two years on supporting the implementation of IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information (IFRS S1) and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (IFRS S2) (see our earlier bulletin here). The ISSB indicated that it will focus on providing high-quality, decision-useful information consistent with IFRS S2, instead of requiring transition planning. The ISSB announced that the IFRS Foundation will assume responsibility for disclosure-specific materials developed by the Transition Plan Taskforce, which draws from the work of the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). The materials will be housed on the IFRS Sustainability Knowledge Hub and used to develop educational materials that align with IFRS S2’s global baseline and focus on climate-related risks and opportunities. Measuring GHG emissions effectively. The IFRS Foundation has taken a crucial step in supporting credible net-zero transition plans in the private sector by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the GHG Protocol, a global leader in emissions calculations. This collaboration will enable the two organizations to work together on updates and decisions related to their standards, including the appointment of an ISSB…

Major US and Canadian Banks Exit NZBA

ISSB Announces Further Harmonization of Sustainability Disclosures