Greenpeace volunteers have been having some fun with big bank ad campaigns in Toronto this spring.
Street ninja ad busting in full effect! Banks need to stop funding the climate crisis. Plain and simple. That is the message. @GreenpeaceCA #stopthemoneypipeline #rbciskillingme #fundfuturesnotpipelines #keepitintheground pic.twitter.com/RmfX8WgnGb
— GreenpeaceVolunteers (@GPCvolunteers) June 13, 2022
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.
This week, in solidarity with Indigenous land defenders, climate organizers and communities brought a clear message straight to Royal Bank of Canada executives at RBC’s most prominent sponsored event the RBC Canadian Open: end fossil fuel finance and invest in a climate-safe future.
Following an action on Monday, and a disruption of the RBC Canadian Open on Friday, hundreds of people gathered today for a “Rave Against RBC” outside the 18th hole within earshot of RBC executives’ private box where they host high-profile clients.
Organized by youth-led Banking on a Better Future, Stand.earth, and hundreds rising in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en and Indigenous land defenders, participants featured DJs and dancing, banners and art reading “RBC: Canada’s #1 fossil bank,” and a 4.5 metre (15 foot) inflatable of RBC CEO Dave McKay on a bed of flames reading “RBC is Burning Our Future.” Digital ads targeting RBC’s financing of fossil fuels bombarded PGA spectators throughout the week.
“Publicly, RBC talks a big game about climate action and Indigenous reconciliation. In reality, just this month, they’ve proudly bankrolled new financing for fossil fuel projects, making climate chaos like fires, floods, and deadly heat worse,” said Sarah Beuhler, Stand.earth Climate Finance Campaigner. “RBC CEO Dave McKay can’t ignore a 15 foot inflatable of himself, and he certainly can’t ignore the billions his bank finances in climate destruction and Indigenous rights-violating projects.”
RBC is Canada’s #1 fossil bank and the fifth worst offender in the world, financing coal, oil, tar sands, and gas to the tune of $262 billion since the Paris agreement was signed in 2016.
As RBC greenwashes its climate commitments and touts Indigenous reconciliation rhetoric, the bank is financing toxic fossil fuel projects around the world: from Coastal GasLink and Alberta tar sands, to a new LNG terminal in Louisiana, and the East African Crude Oil and TransMountain pipelines – carbon bombs set to trigger catastrophic climate and economic breakdown.
RBC is increasing financing of the dirtiest fossil fuel – tar sands; quietly bankrolling the TransMountain Pipeline; and abetting the world’s longest proposed oil pipeline in East Africa.
Right now in so-called British Columbia, Canada, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and Indigenous land defenders face a stand-off with the RBC-financed Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline and escalating police harassment, surveillance, and brutality on the territory. The RBC-financed project violates Wet’suwet’en rights and title, and lacks consent of Hereditary chiefs, who have been resisting the project for a decade.
There’s a growing and powerful movement rising in solidarity with Indigenous land defenders. Last month, members of the public submitted a Competition Bureau complaint, demanding an investigation into RBC’s misleading advertising about the company’s commitments to climate action while continuing to finance fossil fuel development.
Over 65+ Hollywood celebrities, hundreds international justice organizations, and thousands of communities are demanding RBC end fossil fuel finance.
Today, Indigenous land defenders, climate organizers, and communities brought a clear message straight to Royal Bank of Canada executives at the annual Canadian PGA Open: end fossil fuel finance and invest in a climate-safe future.
Photos and videos available here.
Dozens of participants gathered outside of the Open with billboards reading “RBC is Canada’s biggest funder of fossil fuels,” “RBC finances climate destruction,” “RBC finances Indigenous rights violations,” and more. Communities distributed flyers about RBC’s fossil fuel finance to spectators as they entered the Open, and an electric truck broadcasting videos of actor and activist Mark Ruffalo calling on RBC CEO Dave McKay to end fossil fuel finance is on-site all day today.
While floods, fires, deadly heat and pollution endanger the lives and livelihoods of communities across Canada and around the world, the Royal Bank of Canada continues to bankroll the fuel for the fire. RBC is Canada’s #1 fossil bank and the fifth worst funder of fossil fuels in the world, financing coal, tar sands, oil and gas to the tune of $262 billion since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2016.
As RBC greenwashes its climate commitments and touts Indigenous reconciliation rhetoric, the bank is financing toxic fossil fuel expansion projects around the world that our climate cannot afford: from Coastal GasLink and Alberta tar sands, to the East African Crude Oil and TransMountain pipelines – carbon bombs set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown while trampling Indigenous and local community rights.
In the face of the climate crisis UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently told the world “investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.” Yet nothing seems to stop RBC from pouring more fuel on the fire.
“RBC holding a golf tournament while the RCMP harass and surveill First Nations leaders is corporate colonialism at its finest. Every single one of us has a responsibility to rise in solidarity with the Indigenous land defenders, and demand RBC stop financing this destruction,” said Sarah Beuhler, Stand.earth Climate Finance Campaigner.
RBC is increasing financing of the dirtiest fossil fuel – tar sands; quietly bankrolling the TransMountain Pipeline; and abetting the world’s longest proposed oil pipeline in East Africa.
Right now in so-called British Columbia, Canada, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and Indigenous land defenders face a stand-off with the RBC-financed Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline and escalating police harassment, surveillance, and brutality on the territory. The project violates Wet’suwet’en rights and title, and lacks consent of Wet’suwet’en Hereditary chiefs, who have been resisting the project for a decade.
Royal Bank of Canada is the CAD $6.6 billion project’s financial advisor, with 26 banks providing additional financing. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) recently issued its third rebuke to British Columbia and Canada, calling for a withdrawal of police, and to stop the forced eviction of Wet’suwet’en people.
“RBC has the opportunity to truly live up to its shiny reputation of reconciliation and meaningful climate action,” Beuhler added. “That means stopping the Coastal GasLink pipeline, ending fossil fuel finance, and reinvesting in a climate-safe economy.”
There’s a growing and powerful movement rising in solidarity with Indigenous land defenders. Last month, members of the public submitted a Competition Bureau complaint, demanding an investigation into RBC’s misleading advertising about the company’s commitments to climate action while continuing to finance fossil fuel expansion.
Over 65+ Hollywood celebrities, hundreds international justice organizations, and thousands of communities demanding RBC end fossil fuel finance. Communities are preparing to organize around the full week of the June 6-12 RBC-sponsored PGA Canadian Open.
RBC has the opportunity to truly live up to its shiny reputation of corporate purpose, Indigenous reconciliation and meaningful climate action. That means stopping funding the expansion of fossil fuels, the Coastal GasLink pipeline, and reinvesting in a climate-safe economy and just transition for oil and gas workers and communities.
See original press release on Stand.earth website. Sent from the territories of Indigenous peoples including Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga (Haudenosaunee), Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Mississauga, Wendake-Nionwentsïo, so-called Toronto, Ontario, Canada —
When most people first learn that their financial institutions are contributing in major ways to making the climate crisis worse, one of the first questions they typically ask is, so where should I bank then?
While the issue is complicated, Matt Price of Investors for Paris Compliance recently wrote this helpful steer.
Canada’s banks are particularly carbon entangled, with our big five each featuring in the top 20 largest funders of fossil fuels in the world. While we need to keep lobbying governments to better regulate both the fossil fuel sector and the financial sector, climate-concerned Canadians can also take action by letting their bank know they are unhappy with its performance and either threatening to shift their business elsewhere or actually doing it.
But shift where? We get this question a lot because we carefully parse the climate disclosures of Canada’s banks to compare them with best practices given by science. They are each now talking a good game about getting to “net zero” by 2050, but the reality is unfortunately less than advertised. In this piece, we hope to provide a general ranking of where the banks are in their policy journey so that you can make your own decisions on how or whether to engage with them.
The best financial institutions tend to be credit unions, of which Canada has plenty of good ones that offer most banking services. You can find one near you using this tool. Regional bank Laurentian ranks second. After that, each choice is filled with challenges as the better banks have made some tangible commitments on fossil fuels, but continue to pour hundreds of millions into their expansion every year.
Dead last in the rankings? RBC:
As Spiderman fans know, with great power comes great responsibility. RBC is Canada’s largest bank and, as such, sets the tone. Unfortunately, RBC is Canada’s largest funder of fossil fuels, fifth largest in the world. Moreover, the tone we are hearing from RBC is decidedly pro-fossil fuels.
Incredibly, RBC is doing less than even the banks in the prior category. Unlike the other banks, it is yet to set any targets for its financed emissions and underestimates its current emissions by failing to account for what’s called “Scope 3” or downstream emissions.
Recently, RBC put out a report that called for increasing oil and gas production in Canada. Note that the International Energy Agency found getting to net zero means no investment in new fossil fuels — we already have enough to cook the planet. Only dodgy math could argue the opposite.
For these reasons, RBC is bringing up the rear.
Which is why RBC staff and customers are going to continue to see images like these, wherever they go. And hopefully more customers walking out their door.
More and more attention has been paid recently towards the massive impact of banks and other big investors on climate change due to their continuing funding of fossil fuel expansion.
This article from VICE news last year sums up the problem nicely: The world’s biggest banks are still investing billions in fossil fuels, despite years of pledges on climate change. An excerpt:
It has been almost three years since the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), issued a stark warning: By 2030, the world must cut its carbon emissions by almost half of 2017 levels to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures. Beyond this point, the risk of droughts, floods, famines and other ecological disasters becomes significantly higher. To adhere to the 1.5 degree target, the IPCC said the global economy must reach the point of carbon neutrality by 2050 – a date that has since become a de facto finish line for countries and corporations.
These days, almost everyone has a net zero by 2050 target, even airlines and oil majors. However, very few governments or companies have detailed exactly how they’ll get nearly halfway to carbon neutral in the coming decade. If the transition away from fossil fuels was truly underway, you’d expect to see financiers retreating from oil and gas and shifting ever-greater sums of capital towards renewable energy. That just isn’t the case for now.
According to Banking on Climate Chaos 2021, a report authored by the Rainforest Action Network and five other NGOs, fossil fuel financing from the world’s 60 largest commercial and investment banks was higher in 2020 than it was in 2016.
The numbers got even worse in 2022, especially for Canada’s banks who doubled down on fossil fuels and the tar sands in particular more than almost any other country on Earth.
Now about those Canadian banks, the National Observer recently wrote a great piece explaining the issue in Canada:
Despite making promises to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, Canada’s biggest banks play an outsized role in propping up the global fossil fuel economy: RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO and CIBC all find themselves among the world’s top 20 financiers of fossil fuels.
These five banks alone have pumped approximately $911 billion into coal, oil and gas companies since the Paris Agreement was signed in late 2015, and they are on track to cross the $1-trillion threshold later this year. That money is used to expand fossil fuel production, build new pipelines, construct liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and more, frequently at the expense of Indigenous rights.
Now, with a global energy transition underway, Canada’s bankers find themselves neck-deep in oil money with a choice to make: Turn their backs on fossil fuels — the main driver of climate change — or continue financing the very activity threatening all life on Earth.
Most banks don’t appear to want to make this choice. Instead, they’re trying to thread the needle by delaying climate action so there’s more time to squeeze revenue out of existing investments that can’t transition to a world without fossil fuels. Unfortunately for them, and us, time is running out to slash greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 — the only way scientists say the planet can buy time to prevent catastrophic warming.
Be sure to read the full articles at Vice, or the National Observer.
That’s why after months of trying to hold RBC accountable for its misleading advertisements, yesterday 6 customers filed a formal complaint with the Competition Bureau of Canada, which regulates Canadian ads. Extraordinary efforts by Ecojustice backed by Stand.earth make this complaint happen.
Here is a tweet thread breaking down the greenwashing at the heart of the matter — which has potentially major implications for the financial products ad industry: https://twitter.com/
There has already been some great media coverage of this complaint:
Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer of UBCIC and one of the 6 complainants said, “RBC is deceiving the public by claiming to be taking climate action while expanding its financing of climate-destroying fossil fuels. Climate change disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples around the world as well as here in Canada. Until RBC stops financing fossil fuels, advertising itself as Paris Agreement-aligned is greenwashing — and it shouldn’t be tolerated. The UBCIC Chiefs Council has called on RBC to take immediate and substantive action to phase out fossil fuel financing and we will continue to hold RBC to account.”
2 weeks ago, RBC had a perfect chance to announce it was aligning its policies with its stated commitments to climate action at its Annual General Meeting. Instead, RBC CEO Dave McKay doubled down on fossil fuel finance and blew off the Wet’suwt’en Hereditary Chiefs directly asking him to stop financing the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline currently bulldozing through their territory without consent.
RBC’s annual shareholder did not go as the giant company had planned. Despite attempting to shut naysayers out by cancelling the in-person meeting down – after 5 PM the night before the meeting – Indigenous leaders and other climate oriented activists and shareholders were still heard.
The cancellation only inflamed activists, who marched through the financial district of downtown Toronto, moving a planned action to the base of RBC’s headquarters. Rallies were also held the same day at over 40 RBC branches across the country. There was even an action at RBC’s new US headquarters in Minneapolis!
Here is a powerful wrap up video from the day:
Major media stories covered the controversy over RBC’s funding of fossil fuels and projects that violate Indigenous rights in major stories in:
The story was also covered globally in all leaning global financial media. Stories in Bloomberg, Fortune, and the Financial Times all covered how Canada’s banks are increasingly off-side with the rest of the world, who are moving away from fossil fuels, while banks like RBC double down on climate doom.
Here is a tweet thread from Bank our our Future which also covers the day. A victory for everyone who wants a climate safe future!
RBC held their 2022 annual general meeting last week. Check out our summary of exactly what went down, and what Indigenous leadership had to say about the outcomes 😡🧵…#BankingOnABetterFuture #RBCIsKillingMe #NoMoreDirtyBanks pic.twitter.com/UTmImf7obM
— Banking on a Better Future (@bank4future) April 14, 2022
Traditional territories of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga (Haudenosaunee), Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Mississauga, and Wendake-Nionwentsïo First Nations (so-called Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
In the face of growing opposition to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)’s financing of fossil fuel projects including the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline, Canada’s largest bank canceled the in-person portion of their annual shareholder meeting less than 24 hrs before it was scheduled. A delegation of Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs announced they were attending the meeting on Wednesday and traveled from British Columbia to attend. The meeting was canceled shortly after, with RBC claiming a COVID outbreak amongst key personnel. Canada’s second largest bank, Scotiabank, held their shareholder meeting on Tuesday, despite their CEO contracting COVID and unable to participate.
“This doesn’t seem like a coincidence,” said Sleydo’, Spokesperson for the Gidimt’en Checkpoint who traveled from the Yintah, the Wet’suwet’en traditional territory, to attend the meeting. “RBC has a track record of ignoring our concerns, and the criticism of shareholders and customers. It seems like they don’t want to answer for their financing of the rights-violating Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline and to face us in person.”
RBC already rejected, based on a technicality, a shareholder resolution that would end its financing of companies expanding fossil fuel infrastructure. The bank still faces three other climate resolutions at Thursday’s AGM. Despite claiming to take the climate crisis seriously and respecting Indigenous rights, RBC has doubled down on fossil fuel financing. RBC is currently the world’s fifth largest fossil bank and Canada’s #1 fossil fuel financier. The bank has financed more than $263 billion CAD in coal, tar sands, oil and gas deals since 2016.
“The one chance we have to address, in person, the CEO, board directors and shareholders, they conveniently make the meeting remote. But it does not stop us from telling our truth and it will strengthen our voices. They can no longer plead ignorance to our existence and opposition to their continuing financial support of such destructive and rights violating projects,” said Hereditary Chief Na’Moks. “We will not be silenced.”
Despite the meeting pivoting to a virtual event, a delegation of Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs will proceed with an 11:00 am EDT march and rally from the Metro Convention Centre, original site of the in-person meeting, to RBC headquarters at 200 Bay Street. The action outside RBC headquarters will happen in conjunction with more than 30 other events planned at RBC branches and locations across Canada.
Canada’s major banks’ support for the fossil sector grew by 70% last year, despite recognizing the need for emissions to fall, according to the flagship report. Alarmingly, tar sands,(Canada’s fastest-growing source of carbon pollution) saw a 51% increase in financing from last year to $23.3 billion CAD, with the biggest jump coming from RBC and TD.
The 13th edition of the Banking on Climate Chaos report shows that RBC, Scotiabank, CIBC, TD, and Bank of Montreal all increased their financing of fossil fuels by a combined USD 54 billion (CA $61 billion with exchange rate shifts) in 2021, a 70% increase over 2020. Between 2016 and 2021, Canadian banks have funneled an alarming CA$ $911 billion into coal, oil, gas, and tar sands. Just last year, all of Canada’s banks vowed to become ‘net-zero’ by 2050 – pledging to reduce financed emissions to zero, including offsetting measures – yet in that very same year they provided $165 billion to fossil fuel clients.
The data shows Canadian banks are responsible for the largest increase in financed emissions globally. The figures were assessed by a consortium of civil society organizations including Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club, and urgewald.
RBC remains top of the list as Canada’s worst offender of fossil fuel funding. The bank increased its funding by $23 billion last year, doubling its funding from the year before. This is followed by Scotiabank whose fossil fuel funding increase stands at $16 billion, with CIBC’s at $15 billion. TD and Bank of Montreal boast increases of $4 billion and $3 billion respectively.
“In light of RBC’s increased financing of fossil fuels over the last year, climate commitments without actual follow-through is just more hot air. We are incredibly disappointed that RBC is choosing to light our future on fire instead of being a climate champion,” said Sarah Beuhler, Stand.earth Senior Climate Finance Campaigner.
The report digs into the funding that 60 global banks provide to major fossil fuel companies and projects, which are the leading cause of climate change. Researchers found that fossil fuel financing from these banks has topped $5.998 trillion in the six years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, with $939.67 billion in 2021 alone.
Canadian banks continue to be over-represented in the dirty dozen top fossil bankers since the Paris Agreement was signed, with RBC, Scotiabank, and TD all in the top twelve and all of the big five banks in the top 20. However, US banks continue to be the single worst grouping of fossil banks, with the top four fossil fuel funders in the world (JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America) all US-headquartered, joined by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in the top 14.
Canadian banks are exposing shareholders and the public to unacceptable risk.” said Adam Scott, Director of Shift Action for Pension Wealth Planet Health, “They are risking the long-term value of their company with their dangerous over-dependence on lending to a fossil fuel industry facing sudden disruption. And they are risking our collective future by actively delaying the transition away from fossil fuels needed to stop the climate crisis. The data shows Canadian banks are responsible for the largest increase in financed emissions globally.”
Meanwhile, Europe is heading in the right direction with banks like La Banque Postale in France publishing a commitment in 2021 to end financing for all companies expanding oil and gas and exit the sector completely by 2030. Banks such as Crédit Agricole and Nordea have made similar commitments on coal.
The Russian-Ukraine war has put a spotlight on the role that fossil fuels play in war. The Kremlin gets 36% of its budget to fund this war from the sale of oil and gas. Recent research revealed over $110 million USD invested by prominent Canadian financial institutions in Russian oil and gas majors Lukoil, Rosneft, and Gazprom. Banks that continue to fund the expansion of the whole sector are complicit in conflict and violence. Canada is no exception, with well-documented aggression against Indigenous resistors of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, principally funded by RBC.
This month, over 65 celebrities, musicians, and actors including Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, and Leonardo DiCaprio called on RBC, Canada’s largest bank, to stop financing the pipeline and end fossil fuel finance once and for all.
“It’s incredibly alarming that in 2022 at the height of the climate crisis, RBC is doubling down on fossil fuel finance. I spoke at RBC’s shareholder meeting in 2009 to address water and climate impacts from RBC investments – yet RBC continues to willfully finance destruction, including in my community through the tar sands, the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world,” said Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Senior Director, Indigenous Climate Action. “This report is the latest example of RBC covering up their role in exacerbating the climate crisis, violating Indigenous rights by not upholding free, prior and informed consent as outlined in UNDRIP. In my community, we can’t drink our water because of RBC’s investments. We want to make sure communities elsewhere still can.”
It is only because of financing from banks and other financial institutions that coal, oil, and gas companies can continue to expand and increase their emissions. The goal to reduce emissions’ to safe and liveable levels will be unreachable. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the impact of global warming has intensified and the world is already facing irreversible damages in the ecosystem with both humans and animals struggling to survive.
“If money talks, then Canada’s big five banks are saying they want the planet to burn, baby, burn,” said Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada. “Their fossil fuel funding is back to pre-pandemic highs, which reveals all their fine words about climate action as mere sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Today’s report comes ahead of fossil banks’ shareholder meetings, including RBC’s April 7 meeting where communities are gearing up to take action.
