RBC’s latest ESG update fails to meaningfully address climate impacts

Today RBC released – to little fanfare, and deservedly so – an update on it’s ESG activities. Included in the update were next steps on its climate plans, as part of their participation in the Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures.

Investors for Paris Compliance, an investor advocacy group tracking climate policies at RBC and others, released this statement:

RBC is falling behind in its efforts by failing to set 2030 targets for carbon-intensive sectors and by omitting the majority of its financed and facilitated emissions, contrary to its Net Zero Banking Alliance commitments and best practices. There is no attempt to address recent controversies regarding RBC’s financing of fossil fuel projects that violate Indigenous rights, nor to end financing of fossil fuel expansion in accordance with the Net Zero scenario of the International Energy Agency.

Said Matt Price, Director of Corporate Engagement with Investors for Paris Compliance (I4PC): “Today RBC failed to change course as Canada’s largest funder of fossil fuels with a go-slow approach in the face of the climate emergency. By not setting 2030 targets and underestimating its financed emissions, the bank is falling behind its competitors, which is disappointing to investors.”

Read the full statement on the Investors for Paris Compliance website.