Bank the Planet!

The biggest financial institutions have just sent a big FU to the fight against climate change

The heavens have opened up tonight with torrential rain, as I write what I hope is an incendiary call to action. 摩根大通 ($3T in AUM), State Street Global Advisors ($3.6T in AUM) and BlackRock ($9.1T in AUM) all?have quit or deprioritized their membership in?the world’s?largest and most important investor group?formed to fight climate change. Climate Action 100+'s primary and vital mission is simply to pressure the biggest 170 biggest enterprises to decarbonize, and NOW overnight the org just lost almost 25% of their base of $68T assets. The loss of the support of these global financial powerhouses significantly impacts "Climate Action’s ability to pressure companies through shareholder proposals." And its not just the unholy trio above that is caving to political pressure, since there are plenty of massive funds that have never joined the Climate Action 100, including the 2nd biggest asset manager, Vanguard ($7.2T in AUM).

Climate Action was just about to kick off the next phase of their long term plan to move from just reporting greenhouse gas emissions to taking action to reduce emissions. “By caving into the demands of right-wing politicians funded by the fossil fuel industry and backing out of their commitment to Climate Action 100+, these enormous financial institutions are failing in their fiduciary duty and putting trillions of dollars of their clients’ assets at risk,” said New York City comptroller Brad Lander in a statement. “Climate risk is financial risk. Today BlackRock, JPMorgan, and State Street are choosing to ignore both.”

Just 3 years ago, the CEO of Blackrock, Larry Fink, "in his 2020 annual letter to CEOs, wrote that climate change had become a “defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects.” Fink wrote that climate-risk evidence had compelled investors to reassess their core assumptions about modern finance." Psych!

The GOP is leading a mission to demonize ESG and is pressuring companies and their orgs to reduce or hide their sustainability efforts, aka "Greenhushing" which in many ways is worse than greenwashing, as it drives climate change underground or to irrelevance. Imagine if efforts to eradicate racism and bigotry all of a sudden were driven underground, removing this global responsibility from the zeitgeist and making it impossible to see best practices and to be inspired. “JPMorgan pulling out matters because it sends the wrong, short-sighted signal and gives cover for others to do the same,". The spread of greenhushing makes sustainability innovation appear shameful vs heroic and bad for business vs the biggest opportunity of our lifetimes!

Reversing global climate change is not a seasonal mission that you can move toward or away based on the whims of political or public sentiment, as it's the greatest existential challenge of multiple generations. The world's biggest companies and their CEOs are needed as role models to inspire us not snowflakes who shrink when things are hard. If our business leaders are too scared to do the right thing by climate change, then WE need to stand up and make them pay a price for their cowardice.

All is not lost since some of the world's biggest companies: 苹果 , 微软 , 谷歌 , 沃尔玛 , 亚马逊 , and 雀巢 are not buckling to the political pressure because they know that being a laudable planetary citizen is actually not just good for business but in fact a massive global opportunity. "Securing strong, long-term returns requires real-world decarbonization on the timeline of the Paris Accords."

JP Morgan reached out to me last week inviting us to move our Climactic venture account from Silicon Valley Bank to JPM. At $65M, we are just a medium-sized early stage #climatetech fund, but there is no chance in hell we would ever move to JPM now. I call on all VCs and startups, big and small, to boycott JPM and their subsidiary, First Republic (where I have some personal accounts I'm now in the process of moving), and move your funds to a climate-friendly institution. Your efforts will have an impact. Trust me, it will get their attention since JPM has prioritized our techie ecosystem as a major source of new business. I have no idea where the VCs I list below bank and I am sure many of them are not at JPM, but I do want to raise consciousness around this issue and hopefully many will join us in spreading the word.

Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Kleiner Perkins, Coatue, Benchmark , SoftBank Investment Advisers , Climate Pledge Fund, Congruent Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Insight Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, General Catalyst, Tiger Global Management, IVP, Redpoint Ventures, Index Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Lightspeed, Greylock, GV (Google Ventures), Battery Ventures, Accel, Breakthrough Energy , True Ventures, Thrive Capital, Foundry, Union Square Ventures, Elemental Impact , Khosla Ventures , First Round Capital , DCVC , Greycroft , ICONIQ Capital , U.S. Venture Partners , Felicis , Menlo Ventures , Foundry , Y Combinator

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-16/what-s-greenhushing-jpmorgan-s-climate-group-exit-brings-new-term-to-light?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTcwODIxNjEyMCwiZXhwIjoxNzA4ODIwOTIwLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTOFkzV0RUMVVNMFcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiI3NjFFMkE2QUU0RjQ0MUMzQkMyMEQ5M0FDNjBENTBFMCJ9.pei5i5tQvXQwinDh1IkMZ4QefUpAMxBwuIjDCSbDkT0