(Toronto) A BloombergNEF report finds that while Canada’s top five banks are among the largest financiers of the energy sector globally, they rank among the worst of the top 100 when it comes to of this funding devoted to low-carbon energy sources.
The report said that in 2022, banks around the world spent about 73 cents on low-carbon energy for every dollar spent on fossil fuel supplies, a ratio of 0.73 to one. That’s a far cry from the four-to-one ratio the report says they need to reach this decade to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Canada’s largest banks have ratios ranging from 0.45:1 to BMO’s $18.9 billion in energy financing, making it 88e place in the ranking, at 0.32:1 for the 35.9 billion in financing from Scotiabank, which places it outside the top 100.
Between the two, CIBC had a ratio of 0.41:1 for its $17.9 billion in financing, RBC a ratio of 0.37:1 for its $42.7 billion, and TD Bank a ratio of 0 .35:1 for its 30.2 billion in financing, which placed it at the bottom of the list of 100 banks.
National Bank is a special case, with $1.10 of low-carbon financing for every dollar invested in fossil fuels for its $14.9 billion in financing, ranking it 52e world rank.
The report shows that the ratios of BMO, TD and Scotiabank deteriorated compared to 2021, that of RBC remained unchanged, while those of CIBC and National Bank improved.
Richard Brooks, director of climate finance at environmental organization Stand.earth, said in a statement that he was disappointed to see banks’ lack of progress on climate solutions, when the world is already feeling the effects of climate change. extreme weather conditions.
“No bank is doing its fair share of the work needed to transition our global energy systems. In fact, they continue to make the problem worse,” he lamented.
The banks had no immediate comment.