If a financial adviser advises you to redeem part of the 401 (K) program (profit distribution programs where employees, and sometimes employers, contribute to retirement savings) to cover your living expenses, dismiss it immediately and leave it to Google. However, as she moves away from her fight for the climate, Wall Street does just that, steals from her future wealth in exchange for short -term cash and comfort.

Massively deciding to abandon their ambition for the climate and embrace fossil fuels that are destroying the environment, financial companies will make it difficult to limit this disaster and the financial and financial report it will bring.

Several recent studies have suggested that letting the planet heat to 3 degrees Celsius above the average pre -industrial age – the course we are now following – could reduce the global gross domestic product by one third or more. This corresponds to more than $ 30 trillion – equivalent to eliminating the entire American economy. Uncontrolled climate change is’ a recipe for a permanent recession, Which means constantly shrinking, failed businesses and significantly increased unemployment, “the UN Executive Secretary on Climate Change, Simon Steill, said in a recent speech. Banks will always find ways to eat, of course. But when the pie is 33% smaller, everyone ends up hungry.

In a way, you can’t blame banks. Even before President Donald Trump returns to the White House, other Republican politicians funded by fossil fuel companies were trying to counteract the banks who tried to help rescue the planet. The Attorney General in 19 “red” states have launched investigations for each member of Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a global coalition of companies who are committed to aligning their activities with the aim of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Blackrock Inc. to be active there.

Under such pressure, and apparently not seeing enough profit in defending green policies, Banks received the re -election of Trump as a signal to give up the net zero And to reopen their treasures to those who pollute the planet, said Alastair Marsh of Bloomberg News this week.

Most banks, including those leaving NZBA, still have their own transition plans for clean energy and have promised to continue to help customers who want green funding.

In order to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius, energy funding should favor green projects against the dirty with a ratio of 4 to 1, according to Bloombergnef. In 2023, the latest data available, the ratio was a sad 0.89 to 1. Most US and Canada banks, which have many built -in fossil -fossil activities, are lagging behind even this sad reference point. Last year, banks channeled $ 730 billion to fossil fuels on loans, compared to $ 690 billion for the transition, according to Bloomberg News.

Banks are a key element in the part of the “economic means” and continue to choose to fund oil, gas and carbon. They have channeled $ 6.9 trillion to these industries by the 2016 Paris Agreement that set the 1.5 degree Celsius as a target, according to a report by the Rainforest Action Network, the Sierra Club and others.

Again, it’s not just the banks. If society could invoice carbon emissions to correspond to the disaster they cause to the world, then these tempting fossil fuel agreements would be much less abundant and profitable for banks. On the contrary, the world’s political leaders keep carbon cheap, essentially subsidizing fossil fuels by another $ 7 trillion a year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The abolition of these subsidies only, including actual carbon taxes, would cover more than the $ 5 trillion per year that Bloombergnef has calculated that they are required for pure-moving carbon by 2050.

While waiting for this miracle to happen, the planet is increasingly heated. Natural disasters powered by a chaotic climate multiply, threatening to open a 2 trillion hole in the US housing market and creating a nightmare for banks. And the transition to cleaner energy, with all the financial opportunities it brings, has its own economic potential. Trump is obviously happy to give such fertile ground to China, Europe and elsewhere. But bank customers may not be so happy to do so.

It was naive to hope that Wall Street would voluntarily save the world without any financial motivation. But avoiding the economic destruction of climate change and political pendulum when turning against fossil fuels again should be enough incentive. The report could be done earlier than the banks expect.