Carney Vows ‘Hard Numbers’ as Big Finance Faces CO2 Reckoning

Mark Carney, the former central banker turned climate finance envoy, says the banking industry is about to deliver “hard numbers’’ to show it can wipe out its carbon footprint.

His grand project — to get big finance to commit to net-zero CO2 emissions by mid-century — has drawn in firms representing over $90 trillion, with more last-minute commitments expected to be unveiled at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow this week.

Now, the challenge is to prove to the world that an industry that’s channeled trillions of dollars into fossil-fuel finance since the 2015 Paris accord can plausibly reform itself fast enough to avoid a climate catastrophe. Carney says the numbers will speak for themselves.

Firms signing up to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero now support “a wholesale rewiring of the global financial system so that every financial decision takes climate into account,’’ Carney said in a written comment to Bloomberg on Monday.

GFANZ was created in April. Convened by the United Nations and chaired by Carney, the alliance comprises six groups spanning all corners of the financial industry. Michael R. Bloomberg, the owner and founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, was among those at the launch of GFANZ. The alliance requires members to use science-based guidelines to reach net zero carbon emissions across their value chain (scope 1 to scope 3), and to provide 2030 interim goals.

Early adherents include the global giants of finance. BlackRock Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG were some of the first to add their names to the initiative. But there were plenty of holdouts. Wall Street titan JPMorgan Chase & Co., the world’s biggest provider of fossil-fuel finance, only signed up last month, as did Wells Fargo & Co.