Stockholm (NordSIP) – The Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative has announced an update to its longstanding commitment to aligning investment portfolios with global climate goals. The inititative’s new Commitment Statement abandons its original 2050 commitment to net-zero CO2 emissions to avoid being the target of accusations of being a cartel.
The Need to Adjust to the ESG Pushback
Launched in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and escalating climate emergencies. However, the election of the second Trump Administration saw policy-makers on the other side of the pond to scale up their anti-ESG efforts, which undermined the work of NZAM.
In a prominent effort to undermine sustainable investments and the fight against climate change, the attorneys general from eleven states in the USA filed a lawsuit against BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street. The lawsuit referred to those organisations’ membership of NZAM as “compelling evidence of the defendants’ collusion “to seek coordinated reductions in coal production”. In the aftermath following Blackrock’s exit from the initiative, NZAM launched a review of the initiative to ensure it remained fit for purpose. While it conducted its review, the initiative suspended its activities, no longer tracking signatory implementation and reporting of net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 commitments.
After a review involving hundreds of stakeholders, NZAM has now published a reviewed Commitment Statement, which allows it “remains relevant, practical, and globally inclusive.” The revised document emphasises the importance of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2°C, ideally aiming for 1.5°C, consistent with the Paris Agreement.
No Longer Committed to Net-Zero by 2050
However, NZAM’s announcement is keen to highlight that implementation depends on various factors, including government policies and client-specific circumstances. To that end, it removes its clear commitment to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
“There is clearer foregrounding of what has always been the case: that the extent to which signatories can implement the actions set out in the Commitment Statement depends on a wide range of factors including clients, policies and regulations adopted by governments and other actors. References to 2050 have been removed to reflect diverse jurisdictional realities and accommodate signatories from a wider range of markets. Signatories will continue to set individual targets, implement their own stewardship strategies, and report annually on their progress,” NZAM argues.
“Climate change remains as much in focus for us as ever. If anything, the increasing physical impacts and updated scientific assessments we’re seeing in 2025 should raise more alarm bells across our sector. That’s why we are looking to our asset managers and the wider investment sector to play a constructive and proactive role in addressing climate risk and realising transition-related investment opportunities. We see participation in the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative as key to this – it provides industry best practice tools and frameworks, and helps lift standards across the whole investment industry, which leads to a better long-term outcome for the economy than everyone ‘going it alone’,” says Laura Hillis, Managing Director, Responsible Investment at the Church of England Pensions Board.
NZAM plans to resume targeted support activities in January 2026. No plan has been proposed to change the name of the initiative.
