The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) is further relaxing membership requirements for financial firms working towards a net-zero transition, as the exodus from the coalition’s sub-groups continues. 

Going forward, GFANZ “will allow any financial institution working to mobilise capital and lower the barriers to financing energy transition to participate,” it said in a statement signed by the alliance’s leadership – Michael Bloomberg, Mark Carney and Mary Shapiro.

This means that in the future companies can rely on GFANZ for guidance and assistance without aligning their operations with the goal of the Paris Agreement, according to a Bloomberg report.

Additionally, under GFANZ’s new structure, companies that are not members of a net-zero group will be free to work with the alliance, the report added, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The new approach may lead to companies in emerging economies, that have not yet set 2050 net-zero goals, to look for some form of affiliation with GFANZ, the report noted.

GFANZ has already relaxed its membership rules, waiving the requirement for members to sign up to the UN’s Race to Zero campaign aiming to cut emissions globally. 

GFANZ has worked to support greater levels of climate-related disclosure, the development and publication of climate transition plans, and the launch of initiatives to de-risk private investment going into emerging markets and developing economies, it said in the statement.

“Without private finance, there can be no global energy transition. For that reason, in 2025 and beyond, GFANZ will redouble its efforts to mobilise private capital,” it added.

GFANZ, an umbrella organisation of eight sub-groups including the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, has grown since its inception in 2022 to include more than 700 members, but a number of members have exited from the group, fearing legal risks and the impact of the anti-ESG campaigns in the US that could be further exacerbated under president-elect Donald Trump.

The latest to leave the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a sub-group of GFANZ, is Citigroup and Bank of America Corp, following the departure of Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

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Luigi is IPE's Berlin-based DACH correspondent. His coverage includes regulation and the latest pensions and investments trends, and, being a native Italian, he also covers Italy’s pensions market. He has reported from Italy and Germany on international politics and business for European and US publications including USA Today, Bloomberg BNA and for the investigative magazine L’Espresso. He was previously Germany correspondent for Mergermarket covering M&A.View full Profile

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