Since the Paris Agreement was signed in late 2015, RBC, Scotiabank, TD, BMO and CIBC have pumped approximately $1.2 trillion into fossil fuel companies like Enbridge, TC Energy and Trans Mountain.
Banks could implement initiatives like Portland’s Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund focusing on investing in climate action with multiple benefits for communities battling the scourge of climate change.
That's according to a regulatory filing Trans Mountain Corp. provided to the Canada Energy Regulator on Monday. It represents the latest in a series of cost increases for the high-profile project, which in 2017 was estimated to cost just $7.4 billion.
Canadian financial institutions have financed metallurgical coal, the kind used to make steel, to the tune of $20 billion even as greener alternatives are proven possible. With clean steel set to boom, those investments are at risk.
Despite pledging to play their role cutting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, Canadian banks have continued pumping billions into the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project designed to help Canadian oil companies grow. Even as Ottawa says the public won't be on the hook, experts say that's precisely what will happen.
Banks are using the term "sustainable finance" too broadly and not backing up the claims with data, Investors for Paris Compliance said in its submission Tuesday to the Ontario Securities Commission and the Autorité des marchés financiers of Québec.