Wells Fargo drops its climate targets in a cowardly and dangerous move
By Hannah Saggau, Senior Climate Finance Campaigner with Stand.earth, and leader of the FossilFreeCiti.org campaign.
On a Friday afternoon, top fossil fuel funder Wells Fargo took a giant leap backwards on climate, dropping its 2030 and 2050 climate goals in a cowardly and dangerous move.
What does this mean? Let’s break it down.
Fossil fuel companies need money to torch the planet—and they are getting it from banks. Major banks including JP Morgan Chase, Citi, and Wells Fargo funnel billions of dollars every year into oil and gas companies that are driving catastrophic climate impacts. This financing enables polluters to build new toxic facilities, from fossil gas pipelines and export terminals in the U.S. Gulf South, to oil drilling on Indigenous territories in the Amazon rainforest.
Image: Banking on Climate Chaos, 2024. Bar graph of “The Dirty Dozen’s” fossil fuel financing.
Because of our pressure, between 2020 and 2021, all of the top Wall Street banks came out with pledges to reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This included commitments to reduce their “financed emissions” – or the climate pollution that stems from their lending for the fossil fuel industry.
To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the world needs to rapidly reduce pollution by transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, according to climate experts. This includes no more financing for new or expanded fossil fuel supplies as of 2021, according to world energy modelers.
Image: Bloomberg News article on Citi CEO Jane Fraser commiting to Net-Zero on her first day
Since then, big banks have been caving to rightwing pressure by abandoning their climate commitments—a pattern that has accelerated since Trump was elected. Wells Fargo’s decision to scrap its climate targets is the latest in this dangerous trend.
This move makes it clear that Wells Fargo does not care about you. The bank’s executives do not care if your already high grocery bill surges because climate change raises costs for food and other goods. They do not care if the price of gas spikes because refineries are disrupted by extreme heat and storms. They do not care if your insurance premiums are skyrocketing because of climate threats. Wells Fargo executives are perfectly happy to keep profiting from handing over money to the companies that are driving these climate impacts.
It’s critical for Wells Fargo to hear from our movement that this move is unacceptable. Email Wells Fargo’s top decision makers now to let them know loud and clear: we will hold them accountable for walking away from their climate goals.
Securities and Exchange Comission rules in favor of an order of New Jersey nuns in a dispute with Wall Street bank Citi, which tried to stop shareholders from voting for a fourth year on their resolution on Indigenous rights
Hip Hop Caucus’ Stephone Coward and Stand.earth’s Hannah Saggau Discuss Citi’s Contribution to Cancer Alley
An order of investor nuns is challenging fossil fuel funder Citi’s attempt to get its proposal thrown out by the Securities and Exchange Commission
Managed by Stand.earth & built by 89Up
