AUSTIN – Attorney General Paxton has joined a multistate investigation into Bank of America Corporation, Wells Fargo & Company, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, JPMorgan Chase & Co., The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and Citigroup Inc. for potential violations of consumer protection laws, a press release states.
This is the third recent investigation by Attorney General Paxton into companies for alleged deceptive trade practices tied to Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) related actions.
“The radical climate change movement has been waging an all-out war against American energy for years, and the last thing Americans need right now are corporate activists helping the left bankrupt our fossil fuel industry,” said Paxton. “If the largest banks in the world think they can get away with lying to consumers or taking any other illegal action designed to target a vital American industry like energy, they’re dead wrong. This investigation is just getting started, and we won’t stop until we get to the truth.”
The investigation will focus on the above-listed financial institutions joining the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. It is believed that the banks, with oversight by the United Nations, collectively agreed that each of their lending practices will reflect the target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with interim targets in 2030, based on the Paris Agreement. The effect of this accord would be to starve companies engaged in fossil fuel-related activities of credit on national and international markets.