Canadian banks face squeeze between climate expectations, market pressures

TORONTO — In May, Canadian banks offered support to those affected by an early wave of wildfires in Alberta. In June, they extended the offer to those hit in Nova Scotia, and some expanded it further as fires also raged in Quebec and Ontario.

The group has long been pushing for banks to direct money away from oil and gas and towards clean energy, and though the trend has been gaining momentum, it's not with the urgency Brooks and other activists say is needed. To get an updated sense of bank action, Stand.earth compiled oil and gas funding from January to the end of July from RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC and National Bank, resulting in a mixed picture. It found the number of capital deals was up about six per cent from a year earlier to 341, while the amount of funding was down to a still notable US$55.7 billion.

But while climate advocates call for more action from banks, the lenders are currently hard-pressed to make big lending shifts to renewables from oil and gas, said Ryan Riordan, director of research at Queen’s University’s Institute for Sustainable Finance. The accountancy firm found that in the second quarter, lending growth slowed to five per cent quarter-over-quarter, compared with an average of 8.3 per cent in the past two years.

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