A coalition of states led by Tennessee’s attorney general has ended an investigation into Wells Fargo’s climate goals, as the lender has dropped its target to pursue net-zero financed emissions across its portfolio by 2050.
The San Francisco-based bank in February said it was scrapping net-zero financed emissions goals and discontinuing 2030 sector-specific targets on financed emissions that focused on carbon-intensive sectors like oil and gas, power, aviation, steel and automotive production.
The group of states has probed whether Wells Fargo and five other U.S. banks — Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley — have violated antitrust or consumer protection laws by implementing net-zero emissions policies and limiting financing.
“Companies exist to make money, not policy,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement Thursday. “I commend Wells Fargo’s pro-consumer decision to step away from utopian policymaking, and I look forward to the rest of America’s major financial institutions following its lead.”
Skrmetti will continue to lead the investigation into other banks, the release noted. The attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia are also part of the investigation.
“After careful review, we’ve decided to end our investigation into Wells Fargo based on their recent assurances that they are ending improper net-zero emissions policies,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement Thursday. “If Wells Fargo reverses course, we will not hesitate to reopen our investigation and take action to protect consumers.”
Wells Fargo declined to comment on the Tennessee AG’s decision.
Initiatives like the United Nations-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance require Wells Fargo and other member banks to align their financial activities to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and set specific targets for carbon-intensive sectors by 2030. In doing so, the banks potentially “compromised their fiduciary obligations” to their customers, the Tennessee AG’s press release said.
Wells Fargo’s updated sustainability strategy came around two months after it quit the NZBA. Goldman, Bank of America, Citi, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase have also left the organization.
That exodus came only a few weeks before President Donald Trump took office. Upon resuming the presidency, Trump has moved to overturn federal climate initiatives through multiple executive orders.
His administration has directed the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Agreement again, declared a national “energy emergency,” suspended all wind power development, and halted funding distributions related to both the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
