Goldman Sachs commits to net-zero emissions by 2030

Goldman Sachs announced Thursday that the investment bank would commit to reaching net-zero carbon emissions in the next nine years.

“[In] 2015, we became the first of our peers in the financial-services sector to reach carbon neutrality in our operations and business travel. Today, we are expanding our operational carbon commitment to include our supply chain, targeting net zero carbon emissions by 2030,” chairman and CEO David Solomon said in a statement.

“We encourage business leaders from all industries to join these collective efforts. After all, it’s the gains we make in the short term that will make our success in the long term possible,” Solomon added.

The company said climate change “cannot be addressed by one company alone” and that it had long supported the U.S.’s return to the Paris climate agreement, which President Biden rejoined on the first day of his presidency. The bank said it is “committed to delivering on [the agreement’s] ambitious goals, including by aligning our financing activities with a net zero by 2050 pathway.”

The announcement comes days after Citigroup announced it would offset its greenhouse gas emissions to cover its individual footprint by 2030 and its lending portfolio by 2050.

“Net zero means rethinking our business and helping our clients rethink theirs. For banks, what some don’t realize is that net zero includes not just our own operations but also our core business impacts — in other words, our financing,” CEO Jane Fraser wrote in a blog post Monday.

“As the world’s most global bank, we are interconnected with many carbon-intensive sectors that continue to help drive global economic development. We are committed to bringing as many clients as we can along with us on this journey and working with them relentlessly to get it right,” Fraser added.