While increasingly, global financial institutions have been supporting the scaling up of green technology projects using innovative new methods of financing, such as green bonds, Lindsay Patrick — head of ESG and strategic initiatives for RBC Capital Markets — said Tuesday that there's growing recognition within the financial sector that some of these innovative tools may need to be used to support more conventional industries as well.
"The new idea is to support companies that aren’t 100 per cent green, but that have specific projects that are aligned with a 1.5 degree scenario," she said, adding there may be opportunities for banks to invest in emission reduction projects in the oil and gas, industrial manufacturing, metals and mining, transportation, and other heavy emitting industries.
He said in order to minimize the social and economic consequences of such a massive shift, investments will have to be made not just in renewable technology, but also in improving the environmental performance of every other industry. The largest of these is the massive project proposed by oilsands consortium Pathways Alliance that aims to capture CO2 emissions from oilsands facilities and transport it to a storage facility near Cold Lake, Alta, delivering an estimated 10 million tonnes of emissions reductions per year.
He added he believes government also has an important role to play in helping to finance some of these projects.