CEO Dave McKay spoke at the bank’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which had changed to a mere virtual one late Wednesday following the confirmation of a positive COVID-19 case among its staff. Wet’suwet’en heirs had traveled from British Columbia to Toronto to personally express their opposition to RBC funding for the pipeline on a traditional Indigenous land. The pipeline is 65% owned by the private equity firm KKR & Co. Inc. and Alberta Investment Management Corp. They called the meeting, accusing the bank of financing a project that they said has damaged rivers and wetland forests and limited their ability to hunt wildlife. McKay said the project has been extensively reviewed and approved by regulators and has the support of all 20 elected First Nations along the way. He added that 16 of them have made the choice to have a financial interest in it. Despite the support of elected leaders, the pipeline continues to face strong opposition from various groups, most notably the Wet’suwet’en heirs, who say group councils – as political entities created by the federal government – have no power over land. From the limits of reserves. This job, they say, belongs to hereditary leaders under the Wet’suwet’en system of government that preceded the formation of Canada and has not disappeared.
Continuation of the financing of the fossil fuel companies
Major Canadian banks, including RBC, the largest, have announced plans to reduce their funded emissions, but continued financing of companies and fossil fuel pipelines has bothered some investors and communities. Last week, Canada announced a $ 9.1 billion plan to meet its 2030 emission reduction targets. Expenditure on green technologies will be the focus of the 2020 budget, which will be published later on Thursday. The Canadian government’s plan to reduce carbon emissions will lead to “a huge change this decade,” which will require “public and private capital to support both growth and the green transition,” McKay said. “That is why investment and tax policies, as well as incentives, must be taken into account.” McKay also reiterated his concern about a proposed tax on bank profits. Two shareholder proposals urging RBC to exclude fossil fuel activity and projects opposed by indigenous groups from the eligibility for sustainable funding and not to fund and advise on privatization of high-intensity pollution assets under rejection have been rejected. of the Board of Directors.
The pipeline is a challenge for emissions targets
Once completed, the Coastal GasLink pipeline will carry gas from near Dawson Creek, northeast BC. at the LNG Canada processing plant on the coast at Kitimat. This project has been described by the Canadian Center for Alternative Policies as a “carbon bomb” that is incompatible with the province’s carbon reduction targets. Speaking to CBC this week, BC Environment Minister George Heyman said Phase 1 emissions from the LNG Canada plant are being calculated on the models set out in the Clean BC plan. The province said details of the industry emissions reduction program will be made public in 2023. But Sierra Club BC, which is suing the province for failing to provide a detailed plan for achieving the broadcast targets, says full emissions from the LNG Canada terminal at Kitimat would make it almost impossible to reach the provincial targets.
Hollywood Criticism
Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo spoke out against the Coast GasLink pipeline in British Columbia. (Craig Ruttle / The Associated Press)
RBC’s support of the pipeline has also provoked criticism from high-profile Hollywood stars, including Avengers stars Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr. and Scarlett Johannson.
In an interview with CBC, Ruffalo said he was working with RBC’s subsidiary City National Bank and felt responsible for pushing the bank to stop financing the pipeline.
“As much as they talk about champions of climate change and defenders of indigenous and indigenous rights, everything I have seen is completely contrary to these two claims,” Ruffalo said.
However, Crystal Smith, elected chief adviser to the Haisla Nation in the northwest BC. and a supporter of Coastal GasLink, said the actor did not understand the benefits of the pipeline project in providing jobs and money and supporting cultural rejuvenation and education initiatives for indigenous peoples in the area.
“More has been done for financial reconciliation than any other project,” he told the CBC.
As for the gap between heirs and Wet’suwet’en elected leaders over whether to support the project, Smith said disagreements are expected between any group of people and that it is up to the nation members to decide how to proceed.
