What happens when you make a commitment and then realise it’s too painful to fulfill it? You rethink your priorities and determine whether the commitment is still that. But isn’t every choice that way? So every choice is actually a commitment. Then public pledges and all really is just about increasing the cost of unwinding a commitment rather than making it impossible.
Banks are caught in a bind with republicans states in the US making it illegal for banks to refuse financing coal fired power plants. If this had been the case elsewhere in the world the banks won’t be able to easily defend themselves. But in the US, it somehow becomes a legitimate excuse.
And so GFANZ is looking like its commitments are under threat. But let us remind ourselves that the real work is not limited to the financial world; and if the banks are not financing projects then we are going to have to finance it using other channels and other ways. After all, the world is still flushed with liquidity even though central banks are trying to tighten. Redirecting them to climate efforts is more worthwhile in the long run for humanity than funding more random tech solutions that merely optimise a small area of life.