At their core, the Principles emphasize that investments—especially public investments—must safeguard retirement security and build safe, resilient communities, not fuel corporate greed.

Read the Principles here: www.sierraclub.org/articles/202...

🌍 Developed with labor, environmental, and public interest partners, the Principles call on financial institutions to:
✔️ Drive real-world decarbonization
✔️ Support workers & green jobs
✔️ Protect nature
✔️ Strengthen community climate resilience

While engagement matters, the real test is:
– Ending fossil fuel financing in the near term
– Dramatically scaling up investment in clean energy & climate solutions

Most global financial institutions are lagging.
@sciencebasedtargets.org new standard will help push the financial sector to do more.

✅Carbon offsets & carbon credits don't count toward a net-zero target.
❌ The development and publication of transition plans, highlighting the strategy to hit net-zero goals, is merely a recommendation, not a requirement.

✅Requires financial institutions to publish their clean energy-to-fossil fuel financial ratios.
❌Reporting this is a helpful tool, we just need not equate disclosure with action.

✅Recognizes that net-zero is about more than energy & requires no-deforestation engagement plans for portfolio companies.
❌ Previously required ~financial institutions~ to have no-deforestation policies & phase out deforestation in their financial activities.

...for example, the 2025 Banking on Climate Chaos report reveals that nearly 95% of bank financing of fossil fuels in 2024 went to general purpose financing, as opposed to project specific financing.

(explore data here: bankingonclimatechaos.org)

✅Clarifies #fossilfuel financing incompatible with net zero. No new $$ for coal projects, coal companies, oil/gas projects.
❌Loophole to allow financing of oil & gas expansion by permitting general corporate financing until 2030. This is mostly what oil/gas financing is...