One of Canada’s biggest universities boots out RBC
The student society at the University of British Columbia has ended a partnership with RBC due to its lead role in funding the climate crisis.
Big news! The @AMS_UBC has confirmed it is ending its eHub partnership with RBC. This sends a powerful message that @RBC cannot buy young people’s support to cover up its $263 billion in climate-wrecking fossil fuel investments. Please see our statement. 1/-#DivestRBC #DefundCGL
— Climate Justice UBC (UBCc350) (@cjubc) June 10, 2022
The RBC Branch at UBC is still open, however there have been numerous actions shutting it down over the spring and summer, as reported here.
Here was Climate Justice UBC’s statement after the decision:
We are very excited that the AMS has ended its partnership with RBC for the eHub Get Seeded
Program. As young people across the country are increasingly aware, RBC is the number one
lender to fossil fuels in Canada, having lent $262 billion CAD since 2016. RBC is also the lead
financier of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline and a lead underwriter for the Trans Mountain Pipeline.
Both projects lack consent from Indigenous nations along the pipeline routes, thus violating the
principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent under the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The AMS’s decision to not renew its partnership with RBC sends a strong message that students
will not stand by corporations that endanger our future and violate Indigenous rights. As long as
RBC continues to fuel climate disaster and enable colonial violence, they can expect to face
reluctance from students to enter partnerships or otherwise be associated.
Read the full statement here.