Frequently Asked Questions

The Alliance is governed by a Steering Group (comprised of 12 member banks plus 1 UN seat) which oversees decision-making and strategy. The Steering Group is led by a Chair. Steering Group seats are assigned by Alliance member banks and represent a diversity of geography and business models.

The Steering Group banks are represented at two levels in the decision-making process. At the ‘Principal’ level, C-suite delegates of the Steering Group banks provide strategic input and ensure that the strategy is embedded at the heart of their respective firms. The ‘Representative’ level is comprised of working-level delegates from the Steering Group banks, who meet more regularly to tackle the on-the-ground practicalities of delivering on the net-zero commitment. The Alliance is supported and convened by the UNEP FI Secretariat, and the United Nations also holds a seat on the Steering Group.

The current Steering Group was appointed in July 2021 and works with the NZBA Chair (Standard Chartered) to leverage the diversity of the membership, build consensus and ensure best practices are adopted worldwide. The current members are: Amalgamated Bank, Bank of America, Banorte, BBVA, CIB, Citi, HSBC, KB Financial Group Inc., La Banque Postale, Morgan Stanley, MUFG, Standard Chartered and the United Nations.

The Steering Group members will serve for a period of two years starting on 22 July 2021. (The exception to this is that half of the inaugural Steering Group will hold three-year terms to achieve staged change of Steering Group members).

The Alliance is a bank-led alliance. The UN Secretariat provides the day-to-day administrative oversight to the Alliance and has a permanent seat on the Steering Group (SG).

More specifically, the Secretariat will:

• ensure that the Alliance meets objectives in-time and in-budget, and that it does so following the general direction provided by the Alliance SG;
• to that effect, the Secretariat is empowered to make operational decisions as a matter of due course, while strategic decisions remain the responsibility of the SG;
• support the SG;
• convene and provide input on strategic direction of the Alliance;
• coordinate regular meetings;
• provide advice and guidance on technical and structural matters facing the Alliance;
• at the direction of the NZBA leadership, prepare and conduct regular virtual calls of the working group(s) that address technical and structural matters;
• manage a secretarial budget;
• support Alliance communication;
• manage strategic outreach to potential allies and key partners, establishing linkages and regular communications with related initiatives;
• facilitate annual collection and review of the progress made and challenges faced by Members with regard to their commitment as set out in the Commitment Statement and Guidelines;
• at the direction of the SG, consult scientific and technical experts;
• facilitate the Alliance in achieving its objectives; and
• report to Race to Zero and the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero on collective progress, as required and agreed by the SG.

It is important that banks maintain their commitments made through the Alliance. Therefore, banks are encouraged to self-identify where they have not been able to meet the requirements of the commitment and engage the Secretariat to support them in remediation.

Where it is no longer possible to meet the commitment, members are able to leave the Alliance by submitting an official request to the UN Secretariat.

The NZBA’s vision for change is rooted in the idea of achieving real economy decarbonization by aligning the providers of capital with a net-zero trajectory. To this end, the Alliance aims to drive collective, aligned and credible progress toward achieving net zero emissions by 2050 in the banking sector through two structures:

Firstly, it creates a platform for demonstration of leadership and consistency and credibility of action, by providing:

• a common standard/interpretation of what it means to be aligned to a 1.5 degrees trajectory,
• accountability in demonstrating the fulfilment of the commitment,
• action in promoting banks to join the Alliance.

Secondly, it aims to provide a structured forum to support banks’ transition to net zero by 2050 through:

• facilitation of capacity building within member banks by showcasing potential approaches for ‘how to’ implement the commitment
• guidance of peer learning and sharing experience to accelerate progress,
• provision of resources, methodologies and leading practices around areas such as data,
• identification of gaps and working with others to overcome them. This may include, but is not limited to: international organisations, peers, customers, investors, governments and other alliances,
• providing a voice for banks to communicate on the topic of transitioning to Net Zero by 2050 in line with a 1.5°C outcome.

The NZBA is the banking member of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). GFANZ is a global coalition of leading financial institutions that are committed to accelerate and mainstream the decarbonisation of the worldwide economy and reach net zero by 2050.

Race To Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth. It mobilizes a coalition of leading net zero initiatives, representing 1,049 cities, 67 regions, 5,235 businesses, 441 of the biggest investors, and 1,039 Higher Education Institutions. These ‘real economy’ actors join 120 countries in the largest ever alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.

The finance subsector alliances in the UN Race to Zero and part of GFANZ are: the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAM), the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA), the Paris Aligned Investment Initiative (PAII), the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), the Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance (NZFSPA), and the Net Zero Investment Consultants Initiative (NZICI).

We invite you to learn more about GFANZ and about the Race to Zero campaign at their respective websites.

The Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) is UNEP FI’s flagship sustainable banking framework, committing banks to align their activities with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement. For those PRB signatories that have identified climate as an area of impact that they want to address as part of their PRB commitment, the NZBA acts as a facilitator and an accelerator, providing a dedicated forum in which to align their activities to a pathway that observes a 1.5°C warming limit. Other accelerator commitments of the PRB include the Commitment to Financial Health & Inclusion.

The NZBA specifically addresses climate and carbon emissions, providing technical guidance, peer learning and capacity building on the development of net-zero pathways in accordance with the 1.5°C warming ambition and fulfils the climate mitigation pillar of the PRB commitment.

For those NZBA members who are also PRB signatories, the reporting process is unified across both commitments.

A significant majority of NZBA signatories are also signatories to the PRB, and we strongly encourage banks to join both frameworks. The Net-Zero Banking Alliance is also open to banks which are not PRB signatories.