Dec 31 (Reuters) - U.S. bank Citigroup ( C/PN ) said on

Tuesday it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a

group of global banks that have pledged to curb greenhouse gas

emissions.

This move makes Citigroup ( C/PN ) the third major U.S. lender to

exit the group after Wells Fargo ( WFC ) and Goldman Sachs ( GS )

, which both left earlier this month.

Financial firms, historically criticized for their

connections to the fossil fuel industry, have made efforts to

incorporate net-zero standards more prominently into their

operations.

However, they have begun scaling back on some initiatives to

avoid irking Republican policymakers who are opposed to limiting

the financing of fossil fuels.

Citi said it had made progress towards its own net-zero

goals and decided to leave the NZBA.

The NZBA aims to bring down carbon emissions from the

lending and investment portfolios of its members to zero on a

net basis by 2050.

Last month, BlackRock ( BLK ) , Vanguard and State Street

were sued by Texas and 10 other Republican-led states,

which said the large asset managers violated antitrust law

through climate activism that reduced coal production and

boosted energy prices.