Not all banks trimmed by the same quantum, but the general trajectory has been the same, a trend that has picked up steam since 2020, according to the CIBC data.
The numbers crunched in the Chaos report, backed by groups including the Sierra Club, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and Rainforest Action Network, suggest Royal Bank ranks fifth globally among global fossil fuel financiers, right behind Bank of America, with its overall exposure to the sector pegged at more than US$200 billion over the past five years.All of Canada’s Big Five banks are in the top 25 on the report’s 2022 list, which is topped by New York-based JP Morgan Chase.
But that doesn’t mean it or others like it won’t be back next year, said Richard Brooks, climate finance director at North American environmental organization Stand.earth. He noted that more than five per cent voted in favour of the RBC resolution, the threshold required in the United States to bring a resolution forward again the following year.Article content
“If we go to our clients and say, ‘We wish you the best, please let us know how you do on your journey,’ that certainly doesn’t sound like being our clients’ lead partner in the transition to a low-carbon economy,” he said.Photo by Brent Lewin/Bloomberg files This reality is requiring banks to roll out their “decarbonization approach” in stages, a couple of sectors at a time, said Michael Torrance, BMO’s chief sustainability officer, noting that the bank chose to focus on power generation and transportation in the first year.