Three of Canada’s banks—RBC, TD and Scotiabank—are among the top 12 banks in the world financing fossil fuel industries.
In 2020, RBC spent $18 billion on fossil fuel financing, and has spent a total of $160 billion since on the industries 2016. Comparatively, TD and Scotiabank spent close to $16 billion in 2020, while since 2016 they have respectively invested $121 and $113 billion in fossil fuels.
The Banking on Climate Chaos 2021 report is an annual tally of global fossil fuel financing, published by a coalition of seven climate organizations. Though Canadian banks have overall spent less on financing fossil fuels in 2020 compared to 2019, this can largely be attributed to last year’s crash in oil prices, as opposed to a deliberate downward trend in spending.
Canada’s banks have been slow to invest elsewhere, despite the need for fossil fuel investments to fall to zero within the next thirty years if we are to keep the global temperature rise below 2C.
This is in part why Climate Legacy network member Below 2C began its campaign to encourage people to “fire” their fossil banks and switch to a financial institution with a lower carbon footprint.
Thank you Climate Legacy for featuring one of Below2C’s articles on your website. The power of collaboration has no bounds.