In the 16th century Great Hall of Henry VIII’s home – Hampton Court Palace near London – they talk of the future. Brian Moynihan, the chief executive of Bank of America, Ron O’Hanley, the chief executive of State Street, and Janet Truncale, the chief executive of EY, are here to promote private sector efforts to drive the energy transition and climate sustainability. Donald Trump might want to look away.
Moynihan, O’Hanley and Truncale came together following an initiative by King Charles III when he was still the Prince of Wales. He set up the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) to explore how businesses and investors could accelerate the energy transition, away from a reliance on fossil fuels and towards renewables and nuclear.
“His majesty set this up in 2020 with a goal of driving the private sector to do more, faster for sustainability, a future that’s sustainable for all,” Moynihan said. “We’re a CEO led organization, a volunteer army coalition of willing people who believe that we’ve got to make this happen the right way in the current context and in the future context.”
The U.S. President has changed the political weather on the energy transition, pulling America out of the Paris climate agreement and calling much of the sustainability agenda a “green scam”. He directly accused Bank of America of “de-banking” U.S. conservative groups, a claim denied by the bank.
