Bank-led and U.N.-convened, the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) is a subgroup of the U.N.-Sponsored and
Mark Carney-led Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). Signed by the bank CEO, the Commitment
Statement is a prerequisite for joining the Net Zero Banking Alliance.
By joining NZBA in 2021, CIBC committed to aligning its loans, investments and underwriting activities with
the goal of achieving Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This poses a serious threat to Canadian and
global energy security.
Energy has long been a central pillar of the Canadian economy, and as a stable, responsible, and democratic
country with abundant energy resources, Canada is uniquely positioned to meet more of the world’s demand for
oil and gas. Canada produces and exports energy now and has enormous capacity to do more of both, meaning
our industry can play a key role in maintaining our own energy security, and in ensuring global energy security.
In pledging to comply with NZBA and GFANZ rules and denying our energy companies the capital – in the form
of loans, investments, and underwriting activities – that they need to operate and thrive, Canadian banks are
doing harm not just to their shareholders, but to the country at large, and ultimately to the global community.
We are calling on CIBC to leave the NZBA and the GFANZ. The whims of a select group of unelected and
unaccountable individuals working through a supra-national organization should not be the rationale for
domestic policy. National security, and the security of our allies, should be.