RBC releases emissions plan
RBC’s new emissions plan includes slashes to the concentration of emissions for its energy investments, but stops short of an absolute reduction. RBC is planning to lower the intensity of the emissions of its oil and gas clients by 35% by 2030, while shrinking the intensity of emissions these fuel companies produce by up to 27% in that time frame. Kyra Bell-Pasht, of Investors for Paris Compliance told Bloomberg News the plan is “a big step in the right direction,” but also called it “weak.”
- RBC has been criticized in the past for its fossil fuel investments. A 2021 report found the bank invested and underwrote $201 billion to fossil fuel companies between 2016 and 2021.
Senior Finance Manager at Tuulyp Consulting Inc.
If RBC turns a corner and stops behaving as a climate laggard, I’ll be the first to applaud. Turning a corner means two things: (1) massively improved oil, gas and coal financing policies, and (2) ending virtually all new oil, gas and coal financing. RBC is currently Canada‘s most prolific fossil fuel financier, so the challenge will be significant. It’s also important not to single out RBC. All Canadian banks are relatively similarly culpable, adjusted for their size. US banks are also poor performers. Many Asian banks are worse. Large, systemically important banks could or should organize themselves into a collective such that competitors don’t gain market share from voluntary withdrawals from the debt market by one party. Serious actions are needed, and yet bank CEOs have not acted seriously. Low credibility statements about targets the bank may or may not achieve are insufficient. Hire some bonified climate scientists, focus on measurable, externally verifiable actions (again, take low credibility as a given). https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/BOCC_2022_vSPREAD-1.pdf https://www.ipcc.ch