Wells Fargo on Monday pledged to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions among its financing activities by 2050, becoming the last of the six largest U.S. banks to do so.
The bank also promised to deploy $500 billion in financing toward sustainable businesses and projects by 2030. That figure comes in addition to the $157 billion the bank said it has put toward such efforts since 2012.
By comparison, Goldman Sachs in 2019 said it would target $750 billion in loans, underwriting, advisory services and investments over the following 10 years toward companies and projects focused on renewable energy, sustainable transportation, affordable education and other areas. Goldman said Friday it had put $156 billion toward that goal.
"Climate change is one of the most urgent environmental and social issues of our time, and Wells Fargo is committed to aligning our activities to support the goals of the [2015] Paris Agreement and to helping transition to a net zero carbon economy," CEO Charlie Scharf said in a statement. "The risks of not taking action are too great to ignore, and collective action is needed to avoid the significant impact on our most vulnerable communities. We have a responsibility to help find solutions and are committed to deploying our resources and working closely with our clients in this transition."
Wells’ commitment comes less than a week after Citi and Goldman made similar promises. Morgan Stanley committed to reaching net-zero financed emissions by 2050 in September. JPMorgan Chase followed the next month. And Bank of America made its pledge in February.
In the meantime, Wells aims to disclose financed emissions for its oil, gas and power portfolios by the end of 2022, the bank said Monday. It also wants to set and disclose interim targets in those sectors in the same time frame.
The bank seeks to integrate climate considerations into its risk management framework and establish an institute to help clients with their climate transitions, it said Monday.
Wells Fargo last month gave its first report to the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, updating the organization on the bank’s progress managing climate-related risks.
