Australia's Macquarie joins major banks in exiting global climate coalition

By Adwitiya Srivastava and Byron Kaye

(Reuters) -Australia's Macquarie Group said on Tuesday it would leave a global banking sector climate coalition, joining a host of North American banks that have quit the alliance since Donald Trump returned as U.S. President in early November.

The Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) is a UN-sponsored initiative set up by former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney and launched in 2021 to encourage financial institutions to limit the effects of climate change and push toward achieving net-zero emissions.

However, Trump's presidential victory and his subsequent decisions to pull out from the Paris Agreement and the UN Green Climate Fund have triggered an exodus from the NZBA, which currently has 134 members in 44 countries, as per its website.

Trump has been critical of efforts by governments to prescribe climate-change policies.

Goldman Sachs was the first to leave, on December 6. It was followed by five U.S. peers -- Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan.

In Canada, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, National Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) withdrew from the coalition last month ahead of Trump being inaugurated as president.

Macquarie did not say why it was leaving the NZBA but said it would give an update on its climate activities in its annual report in May 2025.

"After years of touting itself as a green bank, Macquarie is showing its true colours following the big U.S. banks into undermining global climate goals," said Kyle Robertson, a senior banking analyst at Market Forces.

However, Australia's big four banks -- Westpac, ANZ Group Holdings, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank -- are still part of the alliance.

HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Singapore's DBS Bank, among others, also remain members.

(Reporting by Adwitiya Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Savio D'Souza)