By Jo Nova

It’s become a flood

It’s a good start to 2025 — just quietly, the money is exiting the Monster Banker Climate Cartel. Since the Trump win, the bankers are backing away slowly from the United Nations “Net-Zero Banking Alliance” (NZBA) which is a sub-part of GFANZ (the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero) — the world’s largest and richest climate activists club. GFANZ is the public face of every kind of financial-bullying-to-save-the-world. Economically, the monster collective could eat whole nations for breakfast. At one point the collective assets-under-management were as valued at the fantastical conglomation of $130 trillion. It is the hydra-head hissing at superannuation funds and national treasurers that don’t comply with sacred green goals. Who cares what the voters want?

The latest round of quiet banker departures started with Moody‘s and Goldman Sachs, a month ago. Only two days ago RealClear Energy took heart that ” U.S. behemoths Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo were still in the NZBA”. But Wells Fargo quit a week ago, and under the cover of New Years Eve parties, the Bank of America, and Citigroup have now jumped ship too. No one seems to be saying why they are leaving, probably because there is no good way to admit they were colluding with other bankers in anti-competitive acts, to limit the choices of businesses and voters. Likewise, there is never a good time to say it was a mistake to join a club that put their clients interests second, after the pet obsessions of UN apparatchiks.

Credit for these successes goes to the Republican State Governors and their anti-trust and fiduciary duty legal suits. Their threats are unravelling the giant financial marshmellow man — especially now that the bankers have lost any “protection” the Biden – Harris  Presidency may have offered.

• • • Bloomber

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Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month.

In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The bankers just want to save the world — and sell green bonds…

Citigroup has been the world’s No. 4 underwriter of green bonds since the start of the decade, trailing BNP Paribas SA, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Credit Agricole SA, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America ranks eighth.

As I’ve explained — these banker bullies can force first world economies to pick up Net Zero policies, even when their voters don’t want it, but their power hinges on a bluff made with other people’s money which the US Republican’s have called them on. Larry Fink doesn’t hold $10 trillion in personal assets, he manages $10 trillion of other people’s investments:

The climate banker cabal called GFANZ — was set up in 2021 by the UN and Mark Carney (former governor of the Bank of England). At one point GFANZ grew to an obscenely unbelievable $130 trillion in “funds under management”, giving it the financial power equivalent to a black hole. The largest 20 national economies in the world have a combined GDP of $87 trillion. So when a collective managing $130 trillion says “jump” there are not many Presidents or Prime Ministers inclined to say “No”. In October 2020, the CEO of BlackRock told the Australian government he wanted them to shut coal plants faster and three weeks later, Scott Morrison and the treasurer signed us up for Net Zero, even though the voters had picked them to do less climate action rather than more.

…it was all a big bluff…  all the giant funds use other people’s money to bully and cajole boards, ministers, and global leaders into doing things that none of them might want. They were supposed to be investing pension funds to earn money for workers to retire on, instead it looked and smelled a lot like they were squandering the returns in order to prop up socialist ideologies, dodgy companies, and to coerce governments to legislate policies that the voters didn’t vote for.

Larry Fink the CEO of Blackrock, and his pals, turned our pension funds into a leftist activist machine. Thankfully 19 US States fought back by asking the legal bombshell questions about whether these funds were cooperating in a way that breached antitrust laws and neglected their fiduciary duty.

— from  ESG comes undone — BlackRock, JP Morgan abandon “Climate Action 100+”

Appropriately the GFANZ logo is an empty hole. You only think you can see the “zero”.

It’s a big set back for the UN and the bankers

GFANZ and the UN banker cartel was an obscene grab for power. It is an unholy alliance of big money and big government — looking acting and smelling like the start of a World Government machine to take power away from the voters and command their energy, investment, pensions, and freedom from Geneva or London.

The psychopaths and colluding bankers won’t stop colluding, but this is, at least, the beginning of the end for the brazen, naked part of the gambit. Now they will have to go back to meeting at Davos for skiing trips to plot their self serving goals. They have to pretend to compete, which will slow them down. They can’t be seen to “set national policy”, and they must not use their clients funds against them, at least not obviously.

Which banks serve the UN?

Conveniently the bragging UN has made the list of member-bankers searchable by country.

The only big US bankers left are JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley. The US member list is looking decided empty…  On the other hand, practically every Australian bank has signed on to obey the United Nations “NZBA” club —  the ANZ, Comm bank, NAB, Westpac, Macquarie and BoQ.   Which banks did not?  Bendigo Bank? Search among the wiki list of Australian banks. Let me know if you know of one that serves Australians rather than the UN.

The Bank of NZ is a fully fledged member. For Canadians like Australians, seemingly every bank is a Bank of the UN —  the CIBC, the BMO, Coast Capital, NBC, RBC, Scotiabank, TD Bank and Vancity too.  (Forgive me if I screwed up the acronyms.)

The UK bankers include too many to name, but Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, PBS, TSB, Standard Chartered, and Virgin Money for starters.

While the US has the well known “anti-trust” laws which the Republicans are using to frighten the bankers, the rest of the West has fiduciary duty rules, and regulations that prohibit anti-competitive collusion. Hopefully this is just the start of the great climate unravelling.

Essay by Eric Worrall

A former army officer is leading a green lawfare attack on gas extraction companies.

Methane leaks are supercharging the climate crisis — here’s what we must do, now 

BY RUSSEL L. HONORÉ, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR   – 12/31/24 12:00 PM ET

In the fight against climate change, the focus is usually on carbon dioxide, or CO₂ — and for good reason. It’s a greenhouse gas that remains in the atmosphere for years, trapping in heat for generations to come. Yet there is an even more potent planet-warming gas whose destructive powers have long gone hidden — until now. 

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The fossil fuel industry has been drilling and refining oil and its byproducts for over 150 years, and it has left behind a legacy of pollution and dodged accountability. So-called “orphaned” wells, or wells that have been abandoned by the oil companies that originally drilled them, litter the United States, including my home state of Louisiana. When these wells aren’t abandoned outright, ownership is transferred to a shell companywithout the funding to clean them up. They can remain uncapped for generations, leaking carcinogens and other toxic chemicals into the surrounding area and unleashing plumes of methane into the atmosphere. 

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The industry’s process for extracting gas through fracking, moving it through pipelines, liquefying it and shipping it overseas is an energy intensive and wasteful process. From the well head through the pipeline to the export terminal and beyond, methane is leaked into the atmosphere. To regulate pressure along the pipeline and in the liquefaction plant, companies flare, or burn off the excess, just above ground level, releasing methane along with any other particulate matter.  

Here too, the fossil fuel industry needs to be held to account. Sending a greenhouse gas into the atmosphere while marketing it as a “green” alternative to oil is dishonest.  

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Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré (Ret.) is a former commanding officer of the U.S. First Army. He led Joint Task Force Katrina in New Orleans following the devastating Category 5 hurricane. He is currently head of The Green Army, an organization dedicated to finding solutions to pollution. 

Read more: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/5060288-methane-emissions-climate-change/

There are a few parts to unpack in this article.

Lt. Gen Honoré is someone with a serious commitment to serving his country. He served his country in the military, he led a major part of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, and I believe he now sincerely believes he is still serving his country by his participation in The Green Army. We have to respect this is someone who has given a great deal to his country, and who still believes he is serving his country.

What about the gas companies?

There appear to be two parts to Lt Gen. Honoré’s grievance with gas companies.

1. The suggestion gas companies are using legal tricks to avoid having to clean up old well sites.
2. The suggestion gas companies need to be held to account for their contribution to global warming.

Part 1, the suggestion gas companies are using sharp practices to avoid cleaning up pollution. Looking at Lt. Gen Honoré’s Green Army website this mostly appears to relate to grievances over local issues in Louisiana. I don’t know the situation on the ground in Louisiana, so I’m not going to pass judgement on this issue.

Obviously I have a big problem with the second part of Lt Gen. Honoré’s concerns about global warming, because that concern is false. There is no evidence low level methane leaks are or will in the future cause any measurable harm to human health.

But there is plenty of evidence an unnecessary regulatory crackdown on gas company emissions would do great harm to poor people.

In Europe the impact of green policies on poor people is nothing short of horrific.

The USA is not immune to green lawfare messing up people’s lives;

Lt Gen. Honoré, I believe you are sincere, over your life you have demonstrated a deep commitment to helping people and serving your country. On your website I saw a mention of your Katrina experience. I can only imagine how horrible that was.

But shutting down the gas industry, or even heavily regulating gas emissions, would have a devastating impact on poor people.

Energy poverty is a real issue in the USA, and a far worse issue in Britain and Europe. Any intensification of environmental regulation of energy has to be weighed against the possible consequences of driving up the cost of energy.

Lt Gen. Honoré I urge you to please re-check your case, make absolutely sure that you are doing the right thing. Because if you succeed in your lawfare attack against gas companies for their insignificant methane emissions, if you contribute to unnecessarily driving up the cost of energy in the USA, the very people you want to help could suffer adverse consequences from your actions.