The disaster of ESG banking

Vincent J. Curtis

14 Apr 23

RE: RBC is No. 1 in funding of fossil fuels.  By Kevin Orland of Bloomberg. Published in the Hamilton Spectator 14 Apr 23

I suspect that the claim by an outfit calling itself “the Rainforest Action Network” is untrue when it says that the Royal Bank of Canada is number one in the world in “funding of fossil fuels.”  I suspect that there are banks in China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE with bigger fossil fuel portfolios than the RBC, but when social activism is at stake, truth doesn’t matter.

Let me deplore any violence against RBC employees and damage to property this ridiculous allegation may provoke, which it is intended to provoke.

Think of the poor people who put money into banks with high ESG scores, like Silicon Valley Bank, or Credit Suisse.  Those banks invested their depositors’ money in safe, secure U.S government bonds, which collapsed in value as interest rates rose.  The oil business is healthy; the companies are making big profits; their stocks are appreciating in value, they pay good dividends, and they pay their creditors.  That’s the sort of investment you want your bank to be making – if you want your money to be safe.

There’s no use in punishing RBC for making good investments, because there are plenty of other banks around the world eager to invest money in profitable enterprises, and they aren’t subject to harassment by social activists who are taken in by the “climate crisis” hoax.  Even if it were true, China and India are going to seal out collective fates anyway.

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