Month: November 2022

A new report out this week by climate concerned investor group slammed Canada’s banks for their failure to have credible plans to get to net zero emissions. Their scorecard showed RBC as the worst performing of a bad bunch.

Read the full report at the Investors for Paris Compliance website.

One year since committing to Mark Carney’s UN Net Zero Banking Alliance, investor group Investors for Paris Compliance graded the progress of Canada’s six largest banks in developing their net zero policies. In particular, the report graded each bank’s: 1) financed emissions reporting, 2) interim financed emissions reduction targets, and 3) supporting net-zero strategies. The report provides a grading scheme for each category, which highlights best practices.

An investment blog tracking the oil industry said:

An investor group has criticized Canadian lenders for investing heavily in fossil fuels despite the Paris Agreement, noting that all of the largest Canadian banks still need to be ready for net zero.

In a report titled Net Zero Policy Report Card, Investors for Paris Compliance graded Canada’s largest banks on several indicators, including fossil fuel investments, climate targets, and emissions reporting.

In fossil fuel investments, all banks were revealed to have increased their exposure between 2020 and 2021, by between 25 percent—TD and BMO—and 132 percent for CIBC.

According to the report, RBC invested $48.5 billion in fossil fuels last year, up 101 percent on 2020, and Scotiabank increased its exposure to the sector by 87 percent to $38 billion.

The report received widespread media attention including CTV News.

In the wake of drilling under the sacred Wedzwin Kwa river, Gidimt’en Checkpoint Land Defenders asked settlers on a massive 800 person zoom call to organize actions at RBC Branches on Nov 5 to support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their fight against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Over 40 people registered actions on the action map, and 500 people RSVP’d online to these actions. The quality of the actions themselves are an encouraging sign of the enduring solidarity with Gidimt’en checkpoint.

In Vancouver and Victoria, hundreds of people turned out amidst a flurry of activity targeted at MLA’s and RBC. In Montreal, a good crowd marched down the street, stopping by at multiple RBCs, as another protested RCMP headquarters and others staged a creative action at the Habs game.

In Toronto, two separate demonstrations drew crowds and high profile guests such as Indigenous Land Defender Layla Staats. Guelph fundraised $2,000 for Gidimt’en at their event(!) And all across the country, from coast to coast, Kill the Drill saw impressive and creative actions by many dedicated activists from different walks of life.

After the day of action, dozens of action takers will form new groups that “adopt” local RBC branches, joining many others in informing their community and customers about the struggle for the Yintah, hosting regular actions, fundraising, or doing whatever is needed. (Actions are usually recorded on Twitter and Instagram and tagged to Yintah Access.)

Group launchers will read a toolkit explaining how to proceed and emphasizing the importance of setting goals. And they will work with a coach and take many trainings. What we are seeing is that there is much to learn, from allyship principles to basic organizing skills such as planning your ladder of engagement and structuring teams for care and resilience.

To us, the day of action confirms that momentum for supporting Gidimt’en Checkpoint’s struggle for sovereignty remains high. From coast to coast, allies continue to be inspired by the Land Defenders’ stance and continue to be prepared to step up to support them.

There are 1,200 RBC branches in this country. By working together, Land Defenders and allied organizers stand a chance of seeing hundreds of them “adopted”.

So long as Gidimt’en Checkpoint stands and fights, so too will their allies. Days of action like Kill the Drill, followed by organizing and absorption, aim to create a standing army of allies who can mobilize when needed. Together, we are building capacity to impose massive costs on whoever backs land stealing pipelines and discourage existing and further theft of the Yintah.

 

Allies thank Gidimt’en Checkpoint Land Defenders for their resolve as well as their trust and patience with them. Building mass political participation that remains accountable to the frontlines is hugely challenging. It can also be hugely powerful. 

Today our partner Stand released new data that shows RBC’s funding of fossil fuels has increased since it joined the UN climate finance network a year ago.

Today, ahead of COP27, Stand.earth released a wealth of new data revealing the Royal Bank of Canada’s ongoing climate hypocrisy and greenwashing: financing fossil fuel companies to the tune of more than $9.2 billion USD since joining the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero (GFANZ) last October, and over $7 billion in the first three quarters of 2022.

Additionally, the bank has been found to invest more than $16 billion in extreme fossil fuels such as tar sands, fracked gas and coal on behalf of its clients.

Increasing fossil fuel investments while already under review for false advertising around its climate policies is a good look for a bank that professes to be a leader on climate.

Read the full release on the Stand website.

This week dozens of youth from Banking on a Better Future and others organized a rally outside the Ritz Carlton Hotel, where RBC’s CEO, Dave McKay, was receiving the Ivey “Business Leader of the Year” award. 

As Canada’s biggest funder of fossil fuels, people were there to make clear to Mr McKay that the only award he deserves is the #ClimateVillainoftheYear award!

The rally was covered by BlogTO, who have some great photos:

It wasn’t a can of soup or a plate of mashed potatoes thrown at a priceless work of art, but rather an inflatable flaming effigy that served as a prop during the latest display of climate activism on the streets of downtown Toronto on Thursday.

A group of activists representing a handful of organizations took to the streets with a display outside of the Ivey Business School’s presentation to RBC CEO Dave McKay with the ‘Business Leader of the Year Award’ in an attempt to disrupt the corporate event hosted at the Ritz-Carlton Toronto.

In place of the honour bestowed on McKay by the corporate elite, the activists from the University of Toronto, Banking on a Better Future, Climate Justice TO, and Stand.Earth awarded the executive a very different honour, dubbing the 58-year-old executive as ‘Climate Villain of the Year Award.’

Ivey is the business school at Western University, and there were a few great stories about a letter that many current and former faculty and students sent questioning why someone so responsible for destroying our future could be given such an award.

The London Free Press had this to say:

Some Ivey Business School students are chafing that Royal Bank of Canada’s top boss will receive the school’s prestigious business leader award Thursday, a day after a scathing review of the bank’s emission targets by a group of Indigenous and environmental groups was released.

Chris Mohan is a fifth-year Western University computer software and Ivey student. He has penned an open letter pointing out a “contradiction” in presenting Dave McKay with the award, which had been postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19.

Read the full story at the London Free Press website.