Author: Jason Mogus

Yesterday, Barclays, Europe’s largest financier of tar sands companies, announced its commitment to end financing of tar sands producers, as well as ban further financing of new oil sands pipelines. This particularly impacts Canadian companies like Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, MEG Energy, TC Energy amongst others. Barclays pumped more than $4.3 billion into tar sands companies since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2016, making it the seventh largest financier of the sector.

The announcement was part of an update of fossil finance policies by Barclays in the UK. While the overall policy was disappointing to European climate activists, the oil sands exclusion stood out. The phase out was covered in Reuters, in multiple sustainable business and ESG publications. It was also widely reported in oil industry publications, and in Alberta including CBC Calgary TV.

On this latest announcement, Stand.earth leaders, working to transition Canada’s economy off fossil fuels to a climate-safe economy, issued the following statements:

Richard Brooks, Climate Finance Director with Stand.earth said:

“Another day, another international bank ditching the world’s dirtiest fossil fuels, walking away from Canadian companies refusing to transition to a clean energy future. This time, the world’s largest funder of tar sands. Yet Canadian banks, led by the Royal Bank of Canada, refuse to act on the writing on the wall and are doubling down on financing tar sands. Concerned investors should take note in the lead up to the bank’s annual shareholder meeting April 5th and vote for our climate.”

Sven Biggs, Canadian Oil and Gas Director commented:

“Oil and gas extraction is Canada’s largest and fastest growing source of climate pollution. Today’s announcement from Barclays is a clear signal that the global financial sector is not going to stand by and allow companies like Canadian Natural Resources to continue to threaten our climate.”

In contrast to Barclays, the Royal Bank of Canada, the fifth largest financier of fossil fuels globally, increased financing of tar sands companies in 2022, affirming that Canadian banks are becoming the sector’s banks of last resort. RBC is facing numerous climate-related resolutions filed for voting at its annual shareholder meeting on April 5, which was moved to Saskatoon this year. This includes a resolution filed by the New York City Comptroller on behalf of its $242 billion pension funds, calling on the bank to set absolute emission reduction targets.

RBC is currently under investigation by the Competition Bureau of Canada for allegedly misleading consumers with its climate related advertising while continuing to finance coal, oil and gas so heavily.

More information on the Barclays announcement, including commentary by Shareaction that lead engagement with Barclays on its new climate policy, can be found here.

One of the biggest business stories of 2023 has been the collapse in value of India’s Adani Group, and the wealth of its CEO Guatam Adani, after accusations of fraud.

The Adani Group has been accused of pulling “the largest con in corporate history” in short seller Hindenburg’s new report. Pension funds, asset owners, insurers and banks that have long been funding Adani’s coal expansion are losing trust and starting to drop the risky group.

Why can’t investors and banks spot the risks at Adani?

Adani’s coal expansion is being increasingly funded by global bond investors, with Adani now the largest Indian issuer of foreign denominated bonds with more than $8bn USD bonds presently outstanding. The Adani Group aims to raise an additional $10bn of debt this year, primarily via bonds. It’s inconceivable that major Adani bondholders and underwriters would touch this debt.

The #StopAdani movement, frontline Indigenous communities, and environmental and human rights advocates have been warning about Adani’s dodgy corporate behaviour for years, and have been calling on financial institutions to steer clear of Adani due to their coal expansion, climate change escalation and violation of human rights.

RBC Bank is the 12th biggest global bondholder of Adani. Learn more at ToxicAdaniBonds.com.

 

One of the world’s biggest investors is tired of RBC’s greenwash on climate, and has filed shareholder resolutions at RBC and other US Wall Street firms demanding they set stricter emissions reduction targets.

From Reuters:

New York City’s comptroller and three NYC pension plans are calling on Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to spell out absolute greenhouse gas emissions targets for 2030.

In a statement on Tuesday, Canada’s largest commercial bank was cited with Wall Street peers Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group, and JPMorgan Chase for “not taking a basic step of setting interim reduction targets that account for total portfolio emissions.”

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System, and Board of Education Retirement System say they have filed shareholder proposals recommending “an absolute reduction target aligned with a science-based net zero emissions pathway” for each lender.

“Shareholders applauded these banks when they set net-zero goals – but it can’t be all talk. We expect them to take the steps needed now to reduce emissions on the timeline to which they have committed,” Lander stated on Tuesday. “Absent a concrete plan to reduce absolute emissions in the real world in the near term, any net-zero plan rings hollow.”

The filing was covered extensively in Canadian and global financial media including:

• Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/new-york-pension-seek-stricter-climate-emissions-rules-bank-portfolios-2023-01-24/
• Canadian Press: https://www.thestar.com/business/2023/01/24/new-york-city-pension-funds-call-for-absolute-ghg-emission-targets-at-rbc.html
• FT: https://www.ft.com/content/f768fb05-a91a-4996-8c38-b8b64dfa9def (Quotes Richard)
• Yahoo! Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rbc-wall-st-banks-face-climate-demands-from-nyc-pensions-comptroller-190107093.html?guccounter=1 (Quotes Richard)
• Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-24/wall-street-faces-calls-from-investors-to-cut-fossil-fuel-financing?sref=bOoqS7SM
• National Observer: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/01/25/news/nyc-pension-funds-take-rbc-over-climate-plan (Quotes Sarah)
• P&I: https://www.pionline.com/esg/nyc-retirement-funds-file-shareholder-resolutions-asking-4-big-banks-about-co2-targets
• Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/25/manchin-doubles-down-electric-car-subsidies-despite-europe-wrath/

A new report released today shows how shockingly low major banks’ funding of the green energy transition really is. And not surprisingly, RBC is one of the worst performers globally, despite their rhetoric about spending hundreds of millions on green or “transition finance”, RBC’s total spending on renewables is 1%.

You read that right, 1%.

From Reuters:

The share of bank finance going to renewable energy rather than fossil fuels has little changed in six years, raising questions about how fast lenders are pushing energy clients to become greener, according to research published Tuesday.

Since 2016 renewable energy has taken 7% of a total $2.5 trillion in bank loans and bond underwriting for energy activities, according to a report commissioned by environmental groups including Sierra Club and Fair Finance International.

JPMorgan, Citi and Barclays’ renewable energy share was 2% between 2016 and 2022 and The Royal Bank of Canada’s 1%, the report said.

How low can you go?

Let’s start with what we already know. Banks like Citi, RBC and Barclays are pumping billions of dollars into fossil fuel companies, helping to accelerate the climate crisis. But what about funding for renewables?

Stunningly, of all the money banks lend to energy companies, only 7% (on average) is green. And the averages hide the worst of it. US mega bank Citi pumped $181 billion into energy companies between 2016-2022. And only 2% went to renewables. Same for Barclays, Europe’s biggest fossil fuel funder. Canadian bank RBC have a dismal 1%!

Remember, these are the same banks constantly telling you how green they are. And when we’re not looking, they’re ploughing cash into fossil fuels.

 

See the full data briefing HERE

Broken promises

Things are also shockingly disappointing for banks which are members of GFANZ – a bunch of financial institutions that pledged to do their bit to tackle climate change. The data shows these banks actually provide less financing for renewable energy, on average, than the banks that are not in GFANZ. It’s a double own goal for GFANZ because their own data says that in order to reach a safe, low carbon world, green energy investments need to account for at least 80% of energy investments compared to fossil fuels by 2030.

Just to reiterate: they need to be at 80%, and they’re currently at 7%. More than 10 times higher!

 

Why banks, why?

Interestingly, Profundo which compiled the data (for Sierra Club, Fair Finance International, BankTrack and Rainforest Action Network) contacted all the banks, and didn’t get much of a response.

But the Citi CEO Jane Fraser happened to be in Davos for the World Economic Forum this week and when asked whether Citi had ever refused to fund new fossil fuel projects, she responded: “We need to have energy security and we need to be operating on cleaner technologies and the two, as we are seeing right now, cannot be mutually exclusive.”

In other words, no.

This proves that Citi and other banks are prioritising fossil fuels over clean energy. Despite pretending to help us transition off fossil fuels.

So what are banks waiting for? And how much more damaged will our earth have to become for them to properly back renewables and end links to the dying fossil fuels industry?

Read the full article here: https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/bank-funding-renewables-stagnates-vs-oil-gas-report-2023-01-24/

Thanks to pressure from thousands of people, UK banking giant HSBC is going to stop lending money to new fossil fuel fields, anywhere in the world. That means that any fossil fuel company that wants to drill for new oil, or dig for new gas, will not get a loan for it from HSBC. HSBC is the biggest bank so far to create a climate policy that restricts oil and gas funding.

Why does this matter?

This is a really big deal for a few reasons:

• HSBC lends billions of dollars to the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies. This new announcement won’t stop all of that money, but it’s the first huge step in getting HSBC to wind down the cash they’re dishing out to fossil fuel companies.
• HSBC is the first in the pack of major global banks to take this step. That means all the other major banks can see that it’s possible to stop funding new fossil fuel fields if they decide to. Now that HSBC is doing it, there’s no excuse for the likes of Barclays, Citi and RBC.
• Fossil fuel execs will be quaking in their weird crocodile-skin boots. Because once one bank starts taking away the pocket money they need to dig for new fossil fuels, other banks might just follow. And that would put them in a real pickle.
• And most importantly, it shows that we’re winning. It shows that pressure is working. It shows that together we can drag the world’s biggest businesses, kicking and screaming, to do the right thing. The job isn’t done. But now we know we have the tools to do it.

How did this happen?

How long have you got? Put simply, too many of us told HSBC that they can’t continue funding fossil fuels, and this announcement is a major sign that it’s working. Thousands of us on the outside (think activists, journalists, ordinary people) and inside (think staff & shareholders) made sure we were around every corner HSBC tried to walk down.

For example, *takes big breath*, the movement got HSBC found guilty of greenwashing by the UK ads regulator for misleadingly green adverts. Exposed them in the press for sending “sustainable” money to oil and gas. Pressured them to stop funding Putin’s fossil fuels in Russia when the war started. Set up a meeting for HSBC to meet the land defenders fighting against fracking projects funded by HSBC. Secretly surveyed tonnes of HSBC staff on HSBC’s fossil fuel funding, then released the anonymous results. Disrupted their AGM with non-stop singing. Got their shareholders to demand (and win!) climate action from HSBC. Hung out outside HSBC HQ to let staff know about HSBC’s fossil fuel funding.

Oh, and got their Head of Responsible Investment fired for saying “Who cares if Miami is 6ft underwater”.

Phew.

 

Plenty of room for improvement on oil and gas

This HSBC’s announcement is just the start. It’s not perfect by any means. The policy rules out funding for new oil and gas fields. It doesn’t rule out money for oil and gas companies. So if Saudi Aramco (the world’s worst fossil fuel company and HSBC’s BFF) wanted to spend $10 billion exploring for new oil, they now shouldn’t be able to get the money from HSBC. However if Saudi Aramco asked for $10 billion to help them grow their business, HSBC can loan it to them.

Essentially, HSBC is failing to rule out loans to oil and gas companies, at a corporate level, that are still exploring and extracting new oil and gas. This goes completely against the science. The IEA (a group of very qualified energy nerds) said last year that there can be no new oil and gas extracted if we want to keep to a safe world.

There’s also other banks. No other major global bank has made a commitment like this. And they should be struggling to catch up. We’re now pressuring the likes of Barclays, RBC and Citi to pull their socks up and end funding for fossil fuels.

HSBC wouldn’t be ending funding for new oil and gas without thousands of us pushing them to do it. And now, together, we’re making sure all fossil fuel banks do the same.

RBC recently announced they intend to acquire the Canadian banking arm of HSBC Bank for $13B.

There was immediately push back from many corners of society, including numerous skeptical articles in the Globe and Mail about how this will limit competition and hurt consumers. The proposed deal still requires the approval of Canada’s banking regulator OSFI, the Competition Bureau (who are currently investigating RBC for greenwashing), and the Minister of Finance.

This is really bad news for the climate, because RBC is Canada’s #1 fossil bank, and HSBC is Europe’s. “A match made in greenwashing heaven” as one of our partners put it.

The National Observer reported:

A new front in the fight against climate change is emerging as Canada’s largest bank and top fossil fuel financier, RBC, plans to buy the Canadian arm of one of Europe’s top fossil fuel-financing banks, HSBC.

The planned acquisition would see two banks — both of which have faced serious accusations of greenwashing — combined. In October, Competition Bureau Canada opened an investigation into RBC for allegedly misleading Canadians about its climate performance. That same month, the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority found HSBC had misled consumers about how green it was in advertisements it put up a year ago.

Our partner Stand, working with environmental law firm Ecojustice, sent a letter opposing the merger to the Canadian regulators and politicians, urging them to reject this deal on competition and climate risk.

“Unfortunately, neither RBC nor HSBC has a credible plan for addressing climate change (a major systemic financial risk) and the misleading nature of their public climate commitments contrasted with their fossil fuel financing brings the integrity of their operations into question. Misleading consumers and making false climate promises while financing the primary driver of climate change is not in the best interests of Canadians or the financial system.

“Canada needs all economic actors to align with the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C to reduce climate risks to the financial system and meet Canada’s domestic and international climate commitments. Greenwashing undermines the actions of institutions who are legitimately committed to and aligned with achieving net zero.”

Read the full letter on the Ecojustice website, and stay tuned for more as this story unfolds.

There has been a lot of activism on campuses across Canada this past year, as more and more students and even faculty realize that friendly-sounding RBC is actively investing on a future they don’t want to live in.

Whether it was the recent letter sent by Ivey business school students concerned about RBC CEO Dave McKay receiving an award from the university, seemingly continuous actions against RBC sponsored on campus events, or push-backs from faculty to RBC sponsored scholarships that reek of green- and red-washing.

Last week the student union at the University of Ottawa voted unanimously to cut all ties with RBC.

Then there was this prominent article in the University of Toronto’s student newspaper this week:Supporting RBC on Campus is Supporting the Climate Crisis. An excerpt:

Encouraging students to bank with RBC is encouraging them to support a company that depends on environmental degradation for success. By allowing RBC On Campus to take place at U of T, the university is … letting the actions of the country’s largest financier of fossil fuels be swept under the rug. Fossil fuel funders don’t belong at U of T, and severing partnerships with banks involved in the fossil fuel industry represents dedication both to the climate and to our futures.

Partnering with universities makes RBC seem like a champion of the younger generation. But this is a façade that obscures its true actions — RBC cannot claim to champion youth while simultaneously destroying their future. Fossil fuels are systematically eroding the biosphere’s capacity to support future generations, and to let its financiers onto our campus is to turn a blind eye to the realities of their environmental impact.

Read the full article at the U of T’s The Varsity website.

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.