“RBC is moving in completely the wrong direction, dragging our climate ambitions backwards and positioning Canadian banks as fossil fuels’ lenders of last resort,” he added.The report comes as the role banks play in driving global warming through the financing of carbon-intensive companies and projects faces intense scrutiny.
The research found that 30 companies looking to expand their liquefied natural gas operations sought to almost double the financing in 2022 compared with 2021, as countries such as Germany ramped up the use of LNG instead of gas from Russia. US banks continued to dominate fossil fuel financing, accounting for more than a quarter of all financing between 2016 and 2022. JPMorgan was the second biggest financier of fossil fuels last year, with $39.2 billion in financing, after topping the list for six years.