A CHARITY is calling on Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to stop funding fossil fuel projects after rival HSBC said it had ruled out all investments in new coal mines, with French bank Crédit Agricole axing all coal mine investments.
The call came from Christian Aid ahead of the taxpayer-owned bank’s annual results today, which are expected to show a ninth successive annual loss.
Christian Aid says banks such as RBS – which is 73 per cent government-owned – have a role to play in ending climate change by shifting investment flows away from fossil fuels.
Ken Boyce, from the charity, wrote a report grading the climate change policies of UK banks. He said: “RBS claims it is committed to acting on climate change, but those are hollow words without action. RBS downplays its relatively small amount of energy investments as arguments that others should act before them.
“But the contrary is true. A move away from investing in coal, oil and gas would have little impact on RBS’s bottom line and yet it would send a clear signal to the energy sector and to policy makers about where the bank thinks the future lies.”
The charity has launched a campaign urging banks to actually deliver on promises to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
It says there is a moral argument against profiting from something which is causing destruction in some of the poorest parts of the world, but there was also a financial risk attached to investing in fossil fuels as many will remain unused as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy.
Meanwhile, RBS is expected to axe thousands more jobs and close more branches as it makes more savings – this time around £800 million.
However, its share price rose this week after the bank told investors it may no longer sell its Williams and Glyn subsidiary. The Treasury has proposed an alternative to meeting a December deadline set by the European Commission as a condition of RBS’s £45.5 billion state bail-out.
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