Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, alongside attorneys general from 17 other states, has announced the conclusion of a joint investigation into Wells Fargo & Company. The probe followed Wells Fargo's decision to step back from certain Environmental Social Governance (ESG) initiatives.
"Despite banks having a fiduciary responsibility to their customers, global elites attempted to hijack these financial institutions in order to impose ruinous climate change policies on Americans that could never prevail at the ballot box," said Attorney General Marshall. "Their greed was disguised as 'environmental justice,' which is exactly why we have antitrust laws. I cannot emphasize enough how critical these coalitions have been in combatting these radical groups and their anti-democratic policies."
The investigation focused on whether Wells Fargo, along with Bank of America Corporation, Citigroup Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley, breached antitrust or consumer protection laws by coordinating the implementation of net-zero emissions policies. These policies were part of the requirements for the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which aimed for member banks to align their portfolios to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 with interim targets for certain sectors by 2030.
Recently, Wells Fargo confirmed its withdrawal from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, stating it would "discontinue our sector-specific 2030 interim financed emissions targets and our goal to achieve net zero by 2050 for financed emissions." While some other banks have also exited the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, Wells Fargo is the only one to have publicly renounced the ESG goals associated with the alliance. The coalition intends to continue its examination of the other five banking institutions.
The investigation is spearheaded by Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, and Montana, alongside attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.