StanChart CEO says ‘shame on’ big banks quitting net zero group

[LONDON] The chief executive officer of Standard Chartered, Bill Winters, has some strong words for banks that have recently walked back their commitment to achieving net zero emissions.

“Shame on them,” he said during a call with journalists after StanChart released its second-quarter results on Thursday (Jul 31).

The comments follow a mass exodus by some of the world’s biggest lenders from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which is the largest climate group for the industry. Wall Street banks started defecting after Donald Trump’s reelection to the White House brought with it an intensified anti-climate agenda in the US. Banks in Canada soon followed. Then in July, HSBC Holdings became the first UK bank to quit NZBA.

Banks turning their backs on the alliance have said they still intend to help clients transition their businesses to adapt to a future low-carbon economy. At the same time, they have pointed to potential legal risks associated with cracking down on fossil-fuel clients, while also stating that achieving net zero is not feasible if the economies in which they operate aren’t on track to hit that goal.

Winters said that despite the anti-climate narrative in some parts of the world, StanChart’s clients remain committed.

“Most of our clients in most of our markets haven’t backed away at all,” he said. That includes clients across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, he said.

Clients in Asia and the Middle East “are as focused on their net zero transitions, or their transitions to a low carbon economy, as they were before,” Winters said. “And that obviously is good for our business.”

In Europe and even in the US, “we’ve seen continued strong business,” he said. “Because a lot of these projects just make sense economically.”

Winters has previously warned that climate projects without a clear path to profits are losing investors. But he’s also said he wished he’d been more vocal in supporting the green agenda.

Speaking to Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua at London Climate Action Week in June, Winters said he “felt ashamed” for not speaking out as decisively on the subject as he had previously. Defending climate policies “was very politically acceptable four years ago,” but “it’s less so now,” he added.

Winters said at the time that he’d “vowed” to himself to “be much more vocal and much more visible. So I’m trying to do that.”

In connection with HSBC’s interim report published earlier this week, CEO Georges Elhedery said even though Europe’s largest bank has now exited NZBA, it remains “fully committed in our ambition to become a net zero bank by 2050.” However, HSBC has walked back 2030 net zero targets and is reviewing goals to lower the emissions of sectors including aviation, automotive and cement.

Deutsche Bank, which remains an NZBA member, suggested in its first-half results that there are growing risks associated with how banks approach the alliance.

“After the exit of a UK based bank recently, legal risks in connection with the NZBA membership may increase,” Deutsche said. At the same time, “reputational risks from exiting the alliance may increase as well.”

Banks to have exited NZBA since late last year include Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Royal Bank of Canada. Aside from HSBC, no other major European bank has left the alliance. BLOOMBERG