IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S WHAT YOU DO

The report critiques the GFANZ network, noting that while it represents over a third of the world's investable capital, its guidelines are riddled with loopholes. Key failures include the lack of mandatory absolute emission targets, the omission of fossil fuel restrictions in the Race to Zero criteria, and a reliance on 'analysis paralysis' through complex financed emissions accounting. The author recommends that alliances mandate the cessation of financial services for new fossil fuel supply and require clients to adopt robust phase-out plans for coal, oil, and gas.

• The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) comprises nearly 300 financial institutions managing assets totaling approximately $90 trillion, which represents more than one-third of all global investable financial assets.
• The GFANZ alliances' guidelines contain significant loopholes, including the absence of mandatory absolute emission targets and the lack of prohibitions or numerical limits on the use of carbon offsets.
• The alliances rely on a 'financed emissions' approach to target setting that is slow, complex, and opaque, which the report describes as 'analysis paralysis' that delays immediate action against major polluters.
• There is a critical omission regarding fossil fuels in the Race to Zero criteria, which GFANZ members must follow; the criteria do not explicitly mention fossil fuels despite them being the primary cause of the climate crisis.
• The alliances fail to mandate the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions from the companies they support, which is particularly problematic for the fossil fuel sector where Scope 3 emissions represent approximately 88% of total emissions.
• The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA), despite being viewed as a 'gold standard', lacks enforcement for its mandatory criteria and has many members without policies to restrict investments in coal developers.
• The report argues that for the alliances to be credible, they must end financial services for companies expanding fossil fuel supply and require oil and gas production to decline by an average of 6% annually between 2020 and 2030.
• The report recommends that financial services only be provided to utilities with plans to phase out gas power production by 2035 in wealthy countries and 2040 globally.
• The alliances are criticized for allowing targets to be based on IPCC Pathway 3, which relies heavily on the untested and potentially unfeasible technology of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

APA

McCully, P., Cuvelier, L., Mazounie, A., Pinson, L., Satow, A., & Schreiber, P. (2021). IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S WHAT YOU DO. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FINAL_GFANZ_Report_02_11_21.pdf

Chicago

McCully, Patrick, Lara Cuvelier, Alix Mazounie, Lucie Pinson, Angus Satow, and Paul Schreiber. IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S WHAT YOU DO. Reclaim Finance, 2021. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FINAL_GFANZ_Report_02_11_21.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=McCully |first1=Patrick |last2=Cuvelier |first2=Lara |last3=Mazounie |first3=Alix |last4=Pinson |first4=Lucie |last5=Satow |first5=Angus |last6=Schreiber |first6=Paul |title=IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S WHAT YOU DO |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=November 2021 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FINAL_GFANZ_Report_02_11_21.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mccully2021its, author = {McCully, Patrick and Cuvelier, Lara and Mazounie, Alix and Pinson, Lucie and Satow, Angus and Schreiber, Paul}, title = {{IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S WHAT YOU DO}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2021}, month = nov, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FINAL_GFANZ_Report_02_11_21.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }