NZAM Revived: Relaunched Initiative Draws 250+ Signatories
3 March 2026
The Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM) has been formally relaunched with more than 250 signatories just over year after the project was paused following the exit of several major institutional investors. The initiative suspended its activities in January 2025 following the exit of BlackRock and amid political pressure in the US which has only intensified since.
Initiative Objectives
NZAM was launched in 2020 to offer a platform for asset managers to publicly disclose their individual net zero commitments and implementation approaches. Signatories for the initiative independently set targets, develop their own strategies and report annually on progress.
The initiative has notably cut references to net zero by 2050 which has been done to “reflect diverse jurisdictional realities and accommodate signatories from a wider range of markets”. This decision was made following a signatory consultation on a refreshed commitment statement last year, during which national governments having set net zero targets for later than 2050 was flagged as a key factor.
The halting of NZAM marked a major backslide on climate commitments and is widely seen as being a contributing factor in its sister operation the Net-Zero Banking Alliance voting to cease operations in October following a suspension of operations in August triggered by the departure of several high-profile banks from the initiative.
Signatory Status
The updated signatory list contains more than 250 asset managers, including Allianz Global Investors, Amundi, BNP Paribas Asset Management, T. Rowe Price International and UBS Asset Management. The initiative’s re-launch has also been backed by a from a group of more than 50 asset owners representing more than U$3.7 trillion in AUM.
However, this marks a major drop from the roughly 330 members that the initiative had when it was paused at the start of 2025 which collectively held more than U$50 trillion in AUM. Artemis, Capital Group, HSBC and Invesco are among the approximately 80 signatories to have left NZAM between its January 2025 pause and February 2026 relaunch.
While major asset managers are NZAM signatories, none of the world’s nine largest are involved with the revived initiative. This includes BlackRock, State Street or Vanguard’s US arms, which have been targeted in a lawsuit from Republican states. However, State Street’s European and UK subsidiaries are listed as signatories.
Political Pressures
Political pressure was viewed by many as having a key impact on the freezing of NZAM, with many high-profile US asset managers having withdrawn from the initiative after been involved at some stage. It was notably one of the climate initiatives named in a lawsuit from 13 Republican states against BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. The states alleged that through joining investor initiatives like NZAM the asset manager trio had exploited their collective power through proxy voting and other actions to pressure some of the largest US coal producers to accommodate to and adopt green energy goals.
Vanguard last week reached a settlement with the Republican states which will see the asset manager shell out almost U$30 million, while BlackRock and State Street continue to defend the case. Under the agreement, Vanguard and its US domiciled subsidiaries are not permitted to participate in any initiative that advocates on emission targets such as NZAM or the Climate Action 100+.
ICCR Insight
“The settlement between Vanguard and Texas AG Paxton was celebrated as a ‘monumental first of its kind’ agreement. However, most of the ‘concessions’ made by Vanguard were already positions already in place,” Timothy Smith, Senior Policy Advisor at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), told Minerva Analytics.
“Clearly companies like BlackRock and Vanguard are caught in the middle of a polarized culture war,” he added. “While states like Texas are on the attack, in contrast many European pension funds as well as Blue State pension funds in the US are urging their managers to take risk factors like climate change into account as they make investment and proxy voting decisions.”
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Last Updated: 3 March 2026