Janet Yellen, the US Treasury secretary, and John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, are backing the alliance. The White House is holding a virtual summit on the climate on Thursday, with 40 world leaders invited to discuss fresh commitments on cutting emissions in the next 10 years.
Kerry said: “The largest financial players in the world recognise that energy transition represents a vast commercial opportunity as well as a planetary imperative. As countries around the world move to decarbonise the large sums these institutions are dedicating to climate finance also reflect a growing understanding of how critical a low-carbon global economy is to their business models.”
HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are among the banks signed up, along with insurers including Axa, Munich Re, and Swiss Re.
Carney, who is advising Boris Johnson on climate finance as well as acting as UN special envoy for climate action and finance at Cop26, said: “This is the breakthrough in mainstreaming climate finance the world needs. GFANZ [will be] the gold standard for net zero commitments in the financial sector.”