RBC: let’s make climate hell happen

Reclaim Finance criticizes the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for becoming the top global financier of fossil fuels, providing US$40.6 billion in financing last year. The organization highlights significant loopholes in RBC's October 2020 coal policy, which excludes only new clients and uses high revenue thresholds (60%) that fail to capture the majority of coal mining and power companies. The document details RBC's continued support for coal developers like Glencore and RWE, as well as utilities in the US and Canada that lack credible coal phase-out plans, urging the bank to adopt a mandatory coal exit by 2030 in the OECD and 2040 globally.

• Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) became the leading global financier of fossil fuels last year, with total financing flows reaching US$40.6 billion.
• RBC's coal policy, adopted in October 2020, is described as ineffective due to two primary loopholes: it only applies to new clients rather than existing ones, and it utilizes high exclusion thresholds (60% of revenues for mining and 60% of power generation for utilities). These thresholds fail to cover 61% of coal mining companies and 66% of coal power companies listed in the Global Coal Exit List (GCEL).
• RBC continues to provide financial support to coal developers and companies with inadequate phase-out strategies. This includes a US$150m contribution to a revolving credit facility for Glencore in March 2021 and US$5.4b in 'sustainability-linked' financing for the German company RWE.
• Analysis of RBC's 2022 coal deals reveals support for companies lacking credible exit dates or strategies aligned with climate science. Examples include American Electric Power (AEP), which has no coal exit date, and Duke Energy, whose 2035 exit date is considered too late compared to the 2030 deadline for the OECD.

APA

Martin, L. (2023). RBC: let’s make climate hell happen. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2023/06/26/rbc-lets-make-climate-hell-happen/

Chicago

Martin, Léo. RBC: let’s make climate hell happen. Reclaim Finance, 2023. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2023/06/26/rbc-lets-make-climate-hell-happen/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Martin |first1=Léo |title=RBC: let’s make climate hell happen |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=26 June 2023 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2023/06/26/rbc-lets-make-climate-hell-happen/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{martin2023rbc, author = {Martin, Léo}, title = {{RBC: let’s make climate hell happen}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2023/06/26/rbc-lets-make-climate-hell-happen/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }