Banks are well suited to impact corporate behavior. Not only do they make loans to corporations — they also underwrite corporate stock and bond offerings and manage investment portfolios. They have enormous expertise across their organizations that they can tap to help their clients make the transition and communicate with stakeholders such as regulators, shareholders, and communities.

But for all their influence, banks can’t push mankind to net-zero carbon emissions by themselves. Even in Europe, which is far ahead of the United States, there is a $4.5 trillion mismatch between the available pool of money and the corporations that currently qualify as being aligned with the Paris Agreement. (Learn more from the Running Hot report with the CDP).