Big Banks Leave Climate Change Groups Ahead of Trump’s Term

As Donald J. Trump’s second presidency begins, America’s largest banks and asset managers have abandoned one of the most overt symbols of their commitment to green goals: climate action networks.

In the month before Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the six largest US banks, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, left their Net Zero Banking Alliance, while BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, abandoned a similar initiative. And on Friday, the Federal Reserve withdrew itself from a network of regulators that were studying climate change risks.

This exodus comes after years of growing political and legal pressure to abandon environmental, social and governance goals. Climate groups, which promoted goals to reduce carbon emissions and finance the transition to a green economy, had drawn the ire of some Republican lawmakers.

Mr. Trump also took aim at the government’s efforts to pursue climate change policies.

“The policy environment has changed dramatically,” said Shivaram Rajgopal, a professor at Columbia Business School. “If you’re the CEO of one of these big banks, if you stay in one of these alliances, you’re just opening yourself up to the risk of litigation. It’s like you have a target on your back.

The departures follow a series of moves by business leaders to avoid a collision with the Trump administration. This month, social media giant Meta ended its fact-checking program and added an ally of Mr. Trump to its board of directors.

Less than four years ago, banks, asset managers and insurers were clamoring for their green credentials, joining global initiatives to accelerate climate action. At COP26, the 2021 UN climate summit, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero was created to bring together companies that collectively controlled $130 trillion in assets. It became an umbrella group for net zero alliances with requirements that were not too strict to allow as many members as possible.