Canada’s Competition Bureau has opened an investigation into whether Royal Bank (RBC) has made misleading environmental claims, following a complaint filed by a citizens’ group and backed by environmental advocacy groups. environment.
In a letter dated September 29, the Competition Bureau of Canada — the independent federal authority responsible for combating anti-competitive practices in the country — mentions having started an investigation into “certain marketing practices of RBC”.
This investigation follows a complaint filed last April and then amended in June by a group of citizens, which is supported by the organizations Ecojustice and Stand.earth. According to the plaintiffs, RBC is greenwashing its climate action commitments as it continues to fund fossil fuel development.
The plaintiffs notably criticize RBC for saying that it supports the principles of the Paris Agreement, including the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C, and that it will achieve net zero emissions in its annual activities. and its lending by 2050 in accordance with these principles. RBC’s rhetoric is “false and misleading”, claim the instigators of the complaint, since it “provides tens of billions of dollars a year in financial assistance to support and develop the fossil fuel industry and is thus currently taking measures which go against the reduction in emissions, which is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement”.
Invited by The duty To react, the RBC says it “strongly disagrees with the allegations contained in the complaint”, which it considers “unfounded”, and reiterates its commitment to “find solutions to help Canada meet its net zero commitments”.
This investigation by the Competition Bureau of which RBC is the subject occurs in the context of the Center québécois du droit de l’environnement recently pleading in a new report for a better framework for companies’ climate declarations. “A growing number of companies are making climate commitments and offering so-called carbon-neutral products to meet the demands of consumers and investors.Unfortunately, some of these claims are not based on actual reductions in GHG emissions [gaz à effet de serre] “, underlined the lawyer Julien Beaulieu, main author of the report.
This is not the first time that RBC has been criticized by environmental groups. In the spring, a group of civil society organizations supported by Greenpeace Canada published a report according to which the RBC is on the 1er Canadian rank and 5e world ranking of the banking institutions having granted the most financing to fossil fuels between 2016 and 2021.
On Wednesday, ahead of the Montreal Canadiens’ first game of the season, Greenpeace activists were present to denounce the climate inertia of the RBC, sponsor of the Montreal hockey team, whose logo appears on the players’ jerseys.