OTTAWA — The CEOs of Canada’s five biggest banks are set to testify before a parliamentary committee Thursday afternoon about the impacts of the financial sector on climate and the environment.
The chief executives of Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Group, BMO Financial Group, Scotiabank and CIBC are all scheduled to appear by video conference before the House of Commons standing committee on environment and sustainable development.
The testimony comes as banks have faced increased scrutiny for how their lending practices contribute to climate change — they have provided more than a trillion dollars in funding to oil and gas companies since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015.
In a press conference ahead of the testimony, several environmental groups thanked the committee for its leadership in summoning bank executives, and called on legislators to put in regulations to force banks to take more action on climate change.
Canada’s biggest banks have already made both short- and long-term emissions reduction and sustainable finance targets, including net-zero financed emissions by 2050.
The problem is they haven’t said how they’re going to achieve those reduction targets, said Julie Segal, senior manager of climate finance at Environmental Defence.
“While each of the Canadian banks have climate commitments, none of them have a commensurate plan of action,” said Segal.
“Their voluntary climate commitments have proven fickle, with them continuing to overinvest in oil and gas and underinvest in clean climate solutions.”
The appearance of the bank executives comes a week after testimony at the same committee by the CEOs of Canada’s biggest oil and gas producers, who face a proposed legislated cap on emissions.
Parliamentary efforts to rein in the banking sector’s indirect impact on climate are largely limited to Independent Sen. Rosa Galvez’s proposed Climate-Aligned Finance Act, which remains in the Senate banking committee.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:RY; TSX:BMO; TSX:TD; TSX:BNS; TSX:CM)
The Canadian Press
