Feb 28 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo ( WFC ) is scrapping its

goal of achieving net-zero emissions across its financed

portfolio by 2050 as banks rethink their sustainable lending

activities.

The goals had relied on many factors "outside our control"

such as public policy, consumer behavior and technological

advancements that would help clients transition to greener

business practices, the bank said on Friday.

"Many of the conditions necessary to facilitate our clients'

transitions have not occurred," it added.

The move underscores how the financial industry is

re-evaluating its environmental, social and governance (ESG)

commitments as political sentiment in Washington shifts.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has withdrawn

from the Paris Agreement and severed international partnerships

on climate, including halting the participation of U.S.

scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,

which is meeting in China this week.

The raging debate on sustainability has at times put

financial heavyweights in the crosshairs. BlackRock ( BLK ) CEO

Larry Fink, a longtime advocate of ESG principles, said in 2023

he had stopped using the term because it had become

"weaponised".

Wells Fargo ( WFC ) is also abandoning its sector-specific interim

financed emissions targets for 2030. It will, however, continue

to pursue its 2030 operational sustainability goals and its 2050

target for its own operational emissions.

"Wells Fargo's ( WFC ) decision to abandon its net-zero targets is

an outrageous abdication of responsibility," said Ben Cushing,

director of leading environmental group Sierra Club's

sustainable finance campaign.

In December, the lender had also quit the Net-Zero Banking

Alliance - a group of global banks committed to curbing

greenhouse gas emissions.

"At a time when financial institutions should be leading on

climate, Wells Fargo ( WFC ) is instead putting the economy, its

shareholders, and the planet at greater risk," said Paddy

McCully, senior analyst at Reclaim Finance.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Saeed Azhar in New

York)