• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion? June 1, 2023
Analyst Sees Oil and Gas Running Short of Cash as IEA Releases Energy Investment Update May 30, 2023
House of Commons Motion, Senate Bill Urge New Climate Rules for Financial Institutions May 30, 2023
13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires May 30, 2023
Hamilton Plans Heat Bylaw for Rental Housing May 30, 2023
Next
Prev

New Campaign Presses RBC, Other Canadian Banks to Drop Fossil Investments [How-to Guide]

February 3, 2021
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Compiled by The Energy Mix staff

Photos courtesy of Fossil Banks: No Thanks

Photos courtesy of Fossil Banks: No Thanks

15
SHARES
 

A series of socially-distanced demonstrations across Canada last Friday kicked off a national campaign to press the Royal Bank of Canada and other big banks to stop investing in fossil fuel projects and respect Indigenous rights.

The Fossil Banks: No Thanks campaign is focused on the C$178 billion in fossil fuel investments the RBC has approved since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, ” the most of any other Canadian bank, and fifth in the world,” Radio Canada International reports. Campaigners say the country’s five biggest banks have poured $610 billion into fossil projects since 2016, pointing to the dollars flowing to the Coastal GasLink, Line 3, and Dakota Access pipelines.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

In Toronto, protesters posted an “eviction notice” that charged Scotiabank with pumping more than $92 billion into fossil fuels over the last five years. In Montreal, a protester dressed up as the RBC mascot, with Extinction Rébellion Montréal spokesperson Sepideh Anvar explaining that “the lion is used to clean up the bank’s image at the same time as animals are hard hit by the banks’ financing of the fossil fuel industry and its effects on the environment,” RCI writes.

Photos courtesy of Fossil Banks: No Thanks

“Demonstrations in front of several bank branches and other locations across the country were small as protesters sought to comply with pandemic restrictions,” the news story adds. “The campaign also involves online actions, postering, and people contacting their banks to say they will withdraw their business unless changes are made.”

In an opinion piece for the Toronto Star, For Our Kids member and Engagement Organizing author Matt Price recalls his mom helping him open his first bank account at the RBC. [Same here—at the branch at the corner of Queen Mary and Westbury in Montreal—Ed.] “But when we recently helped our son open his first account recently, things were different,” Price writes. “We did it at a credit union instead, and made sure he knew we were doing this because the big banks were undermining his future by pouring hundreds of billions into fossil fuels.”

The reality is that “our seemingly boring Canadian banks are among the biggest funders of fossil fuels in the world,” he adds, with money flowing into the three pipelines along with fossil projects in Suriname, the Permian Basin in Texas, Argentina, Norway, and the UK.

“In sum, our banks are pouring gasoline on the climate crisis, putting our kids at risk,” Price says. “As parents, we need to tell them to stop, or at the very least not enable their bad behaviour by giving them our business and our money.”

Following up on the protest day, Below 2°C publisher Rolly Montpellier is out with a detailed how-to guide for anyone interested in moving their money out of one of the big banks. It includes sample letters to the five banks and a four-step guide to finding and moving to a new institution with a lower carbon footprint.



in Canada, Climate & Society, Climate Action / "Blockadia", Community Climate Finance, First Peoples, Fossil Fuels, Jurisdictions, Pipelines / Rail Transport

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Equinor
Oil & Gas

Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion?

June 1, 2023
753
Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-op/Facebook
Climate Action / "Blockadia"

‘Hinge Moment’ for Humanity Demands ‘YIMBY’ Mentality: McKibben

June 1, 2023
65
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Notley
Energy Politics

Notley Would Have Backed Carbon Capture Subsidies, Smith Less Certain: Ex-Pipeline Exec

June 1, 2023
83

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

/MaxPixels

‘Substantial Damage’, No Injuries as Freight Train Hits Wind Turbine Blade

May 25, 2022
9.1k
Equinor

Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion?

June 1, 2023
753
Neal Alderson/Twitter

Out-of-Control Wildfire Burns Homes, Forces Evacuations Outside Halifax

May 29, 2023
2.6k
Inspiration 4 Photos/flickr

Cooling Upper Atmosphere Has Scientists ‘Very Worried’

May 23, 2023
395
/Piqusels

Analyst Sees Oil and Gas Running Short of Cash as IEA Releases Energy Investment Update

May 31, 2023
650
York Region/flickr

Hamilton Plans Heat Bylaw for Rental Housing

May 31, 2023
507

Recent Posts

Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-op/Facebook

‘Hinge Moment’ for Humanity Demands ‘YIMBY’ Mentality: McKibben

June 1, 2023
65
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Notley

Notley Would Have Backed Carbon Capture Subsidies, Smith Less Certain: Ex-Pipeline Exec

June 1, 2023
83
Ryan Turnbull/Facebook

House of Commons Motion, Senate Bill Urge New Climate Rules for Financial Institutions

May 30, 2023
247
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr

Clean Energy to Add 700,000 New Jobs by 2050, with Alberta in the Lead

May 30, 2023
213
Martin Davis/Facebook

13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires

May 30, 2023
620
David/flickr

Supreme Court Decision Undercuts U.S. Clean Water Act

May 30, 2023
79
Next Post
GTD Aquitaine/Wikipedia

Refocus Infrastructure Spending to Cut Carbon, Create Jobs, Blue Green Canada Urges

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}