NET Zero & Green Washing for banks and financial institutions. Climate Strategy, Disclosure Integrity, and Greenwashing Risk in Banks and Financial Institutions - Alessio Faccia

Net Zero & Greenwashing for Banks and Financial Institutions is a rigorous guide to one of the most urgent issues in modern finance: the gap between climate ambition and climate reality.

Banks, insurers, asset managers, and investment firms now face rising pressure from regulators, investors, supervisors, and the public to prove that their climate claims rest on evidence, governance, and measurable action. Public commitments on net zero, sustainable finance, transition finance, and ESG reporting no longer sit in a soft reputational space. They now shape risk management, product design, capital allocation, disclosure obligations, legal exposure, and market trust.

The Author examines how net zero has changed from a broad strategic slogan into a demanding financial discipline. Financed emissions, portfolio alignment, climate targets, sector pathways, transition finance, product labelling, taxonomy use, and climate disclosure standards are analysed in a clear and structured way. Strong attention is given to the real challenges inside banks and financial institutions: data gaps, weak methodologies, uncertain assumptions, reporting inconsistency, poor evidence trails, and governance failures.

A major strength of this book lies in its treatment of greenwashing in banking, asset management, and insurance. Rather than viewing greenwashing as a marketing problem alone, the book studies it as a deeper institutional failure involving weak board oversight, distorted incentives, fragile internal controls, unclear product design, and unsupported ESG statements. Legal, reputational, prudential, and conduct-related consequences are examined with direct relevance for financial professionals, compliance officers, auditors, regulators, researchers, and board members.

Coverage includes net zero strategy in finance, physical risk, transition risk, liability risk, carbon accounting for lending and investment, portfolio temperature scores, climate disclosure standards, ESG governance, audit and assurance of climate information, transition planning, client engagement in high-emission sectors, capital allocation, and the prevention, detection, and correction of greenwashing risk.

Readers will find a serious and practical study of how climate claims are made, where they fail, and what distinguishes credible transition finance from polished misrepresentation. Academic in depth and professional in tone, this book is written for those who need more than surface-level ESG language. It is written for those who need a defensible framework for understanding net zero finance, sustainable finance regulation, climate risk governance, and greenwashing exposure in banks and financial institutions.

Relevant for professionals in banking, finance, ESG, compliance, audit, risk management, investment management, prudential supervision, and financial regulation, this book offers a strong reference point for anyone working on climate disclosure, transition finance, net zero strategy, or ESG reporting integrity.