Three major financial firms join exodus from climate group, bringing total to five in past month

The new year is starting off with more bad news for environment, social and governance (ESG) investing. 

Citigroup and Bank of America announced Tuesday that they were leaving the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, Reuters reported. 

Then on Thursday, Morgan Stanley announced it too was terminating its membership with the group, according to Bloomberg. 

Morgan Stanley and Citigroup each said they remain committed to progress in achieving net-zero emissions. Last month, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs withdrew from the alliance. 

The exodus comes two years after 19 state attorneys general, lead by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, launched an investigation into these firms, for alleged deceptive trade practices connected to ESG. It was the third such investigation Paxton initiated, The Center Square reported. 

The NZBA, according to its website, is a bank-led and United Nations-convened organization coordinating their lending, investment and capital markets activities to be in line with net-zero emissions by 2050.