Banking on Climate Chaos 2024: RBC is Still Canadas Biggest Climate Criminal

This years Banking on Climate Chaos Report is out and it’s not good. As climate chaos rages and students and youth took action to protect our planet, Canada’s big banks bankrolled more than $103.85 billion USD in fossil fuel expansion. RBC topped the list, coming in yet again as Canada’s worst funder of fossil fuels.

The Royal Bank of Canada continues to put profit over people and planet. In 2023 RBC funded more than $28 billion USD in fossil fuels, bringing the banks total funding in fossil fuels to an astonishing $256 billion USD since the Paris Agreement in 2016. RBC does not care about our collective future. They continue to fund projects that violate Indigenous sovereignty and intensify climate chaos.

Canadian banks are leading the world in funding dirty extraction practices. CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank are tied for worst place funding tar sands, at $523.2 million USD. RBC, CIBC, Scotiabank and TD are all in the top 10 financiers of fracked gas activities, further exacerbating emissions and growing environmental damage as a result.

“The big 5 Canadian banks continue to try to brand themselves as leaders on climate and climate finance, but the numbers show how blatantly untrue this is. On campuses, the major banks fund sustainable finance certificate programs, sustainability research and sustainability case competitions, while they continue to funnel billions in to the tar sands and fossil fuel expansion globally. RBC can’t have it both ways- you can’t pour billions in to wrecking the planet and brand yourself as a climate leader. It’s time for RBC to put their money where their mouth is and walk away from fossil fuels for good.” -Evelyn Austin, Change Course Executive Director