Where should climate-concerned Canadians bank?

Where should climate-concerned Canadians bank?

Postby Oscar » Fri May 20, 2022 11:02 am

Where should climate-concerned Canadians bank?

[ https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/0 ... dians-bank ]

By Matt Price | Opinion | May 20th 2022

If you’ve been reading the news, you’ll know we’re in the “follow the money” stage of the climate debate. For too long, the role of banks and investors in enabling the climate crisis was overlooked. Big Oil was the big villain, even though it can’t operate without Big Finance. . . . .

EXAMPLE . . . .

5. 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, [ https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/ ... READ-1.pdf ] 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 [ https://www.investorsforparis.com/rbc-f ... n-climate/ ] 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. [ https://financialpost.com/commodities/e ... transition ] Note that the International Energy Agency found getting to net zero means no investment in new fossil fuels [ https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/0 ... rgy-agency ] — we already have enough to cook the planet. Only dodgy math could argue the opposite.

For these reasons, RBC is bringing up the rear.

Finally, you'll notice that this ranking doesn't deal with purely online banks, [ https://www.wealthrocket.com/banking/be ... ks-canada/ ] which may be a good option, particularly in the future as they become more established. But watch out who owns them — for example, Scotiabank owns Tangerine and CIBC owns Simplii Financial, so you may not be getting away from the problem.

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Matt Price is the director of corporate engagement with Investors for Paris Compliance, a shareholder advocacy organization that holds publicly traded Canadian companies accountable to their net-zero pledges.
Oscar
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