WINNING: Six big US banks quit net zero alliance before Trump inauguration.

JP Morgan is the latest to withdraw from the UN-sponsored net zero banking alliance (NZBA), following Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs. All six have left since the start of December.

Analysts have said the withdrawals are an attempt to head off “anti-woke” attacks from rightwing US politicians, which are expected to escalate when Trump is sworn in as the country’s 47th president in just under a fortnight.

Trump’s vows to deregulate the energy sector, dismantle environmental rules and “drill, baby, drill”, were a big part of his campaign platform and are expected to form a key part of his blueprint for governing the US, the world’s biggest oil and gas producer.

Paddy McCully, a senior analyst at the campaign group Reclaim Finance, said: “The sudden exodus of these big US banks out of the NZBA is a lily-livered effort to avoid criticism from Trump and his climate denialist cronies.

“A few years ago, when climate change was at the front of the political agenda, the banks were keen to boast of their commitments to act on climate. Now that the political pendulum has swung in the other direction, suddenly acting on climate does not seem so important for the Wall Street lenders.”

To be fair, the banks weren’t “acting on climate.” They thought they were hopping on a government gravy train. Now that it’s about to derail, they’re jumping off.