Source: The $130trn and the £1m

Activists reject private sector promises

There is an ideological battle going at Cop26 and it’s about the concept of net zero emissions and the use of carbon offsets.

There was a flashpoint on Wednesday, when UN climate finance envoy Mark Carney announced that more than 450 banks, insurers and assets managers with $130 trillion in assets under management had committed to set science-based targets in line with net zero emissions by 2050.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, or Gfanz, “is the gold standard for net zero,” Carney told the summit.

“The enormous resources and relentless focus of GFANZ can unlock the $1 trillion of additional annual investment needed for the net zero transition in emerging markets and developing countries by the middle of this decade,” he said.

Analysis by Reclaim Finance said the alliance is “fundamentally flawed” and “lacks any criteria on fossil fuels or absolute emission reductions”.

“Greenwash alert,” tweeted Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. “The fossil fuel industry & banks are among the biggest climate villains” and allowing them to buy offsets to claim carbon neutrality gives them “a free pass to keep polluting”.

It was not just Gfanz that campaigners took to task. Another Carney-led initiative to scale up the voluntary carbon market came under fire with protesters denouncing the use of offsets inside and outside the conference centre.

Jennifer Morgan, executive director at Greenpeace, and Teresa Anderson, of Action Aid, disrupted an event at which Carney was speaking and held placards that read: “Your taskforce is a scam”. Spontaneous protest is not allowed inside the Cop venue and both veteran campaigners took the risk of being kicked out of the conference.

Outside the venue, indigenous activists raised their voices against commodifying natural resources. “Carbon offsets perpetuate the theft of our lands and territories,” they said.