Net Zero Finance Tracker
The Net Zero Finance Tracker (NZFT) provides the most comprehensive assessment of private finance institutions’ progress on aligning their activities with Paris Agreement goals and delivering net zero impact.
This interactive platform is the first effort to track comprehensive, material progress by major financial institutions globally, from their commitments through to action within the institution and the material impacts this has on the wider economy.
The platform displays progress from 2019 for nearly 1,000 financial institutions, representing about USD 100 trillion of combined assets under management and owned.
Sets of indicators grouped into three dimensions—Targets, Implementation, and Impact—are used to assess the responses of individual entities and for insights at the aggregate level.
NZFT publications
- Report (2024): The State of European Pension Funds’ Net-Zero Transition
- Blog (2024): Unlocking the Power of Pension Funds for Net Zero
- Report (2024): From commitment to action | Tracking UK financial services’ progress on the pathway to net zero
- Report (2023): From commitment to action | tracking UK financial services’ progress on the pathway to net zero
- Report (2023): NZFT Findings 2023
How are financial institutions progressing on their net zero goals?
Overall, we saw Target-setting increase among tracked institutions from 2019 to 2023. This also appears to have driven increased Implementation action. However, the Impacts of such actions are still far from being realized at scale, with the levels of direct and indirectly-enabled investment in clean energy supply still insufficient for a Paris-aligned world when compared with similar fossil-fuel energy investments, and at odds with the COP28 agreement on transitioning away from fossil fuels. Financial institutions will be expected to reflect this in their investment strategies.
Targets
Net zero coalition efforts have spurred progress on the adoption and quality of climate mitigation targets, with larger institutions leading the way. Progress has also been made on the adoption of operational targets related to climate investment, though these remain less common.
Implementation
Progress has been observed in implementing measures to reach targets, mainly driven by disclosure of emissions and climate risk data, climate risk management and strategy, and internal accountability. Larger institutions achieved a higher response level. Most observable relative improvements in 2022-23 were in the disclosure of investment data.
Impact
What ultimately matters is the impact that financial institutions have on the real economy, be it directly or indirectly enabled. Clean energy investment can reduce emissions, while financing new fossil-fuel power plants can lock them in for decades to come. Financial institutions contributed to the financing of up to 15% of new energy projects in 2023. While NZFT institutions’ direct investment in clean energy projects grew at an average rate of 6.3% per year from 2020 to 2023, direct finance to new fossil-fuel plants still slightly outstripped these investments in 2023, reaching USD 33.4 billion in 2023.
About the NZFT
CPI produced the methodology, analyzed available aggregated data, and developed the Net Zero Finance Tracker. An advisory group of experts reviewed the methodology, analysis, and platform.
It includes an interactive global dashboard and additional national dashboards and will maintain an active network of members and data providers.
