Fires. Floods. Heatwaves. Indigenous rights violations. All brought to you by RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO and CIBC.
That’s right: since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, Canada’s top 5 fossil banks have dumped over $800 BILLION into fossil fuel projects – the exact opposite of what the climate science says needs to be done to ensure a de-escalation of extreme weather events and a livable planet.
In a code red climate emergency, this is unacceptable. So today, Greenpeace Canada is bringing climate change to the banks. We’re taking action at RBC headquarters in the heart of Toronto’s Financial District to send a clear message: enough is enough. STOP funding fossil fuels, RESPECT Indigenous rights!
Follow along on our Facebook page and Instagram page for updates from the ground!
If physically occupying the bank’s front doors sends a message, imagine how much more powerful it will be when hundreds of us amplify it online? Take part in the online day of action with any of these 5 easy steps!
ACTION 1: TWEET AT THE FOSSIL BANKS NOW. TELL THEM TO DEFUND CLIMATE CHAOS
TWEET AT YOUR BANK
Which fossil bank is using your savings to fund fossil fuel colonialism? Send them a targeted tweet:
Since 2015, @RBC dumped $208 BILLION into fossil fuels – funding #ClimateCrisis & Indigenous rights violations. As your client, I want you to HALT funding for dangerous fossil fuel projects like @CoastalGasLink! >> https://act.gp/3xOOHjI #DefundCGL #FossilBanks @GreenpeaceCA Tweet
Since 2015, @TD_Canada dumped $170 BILLION into fossil fuels – funding #ClimateCrisis & Indigenous rights violations. As your client, I want you to HALT funding for dangerous fossil fuel projects like @CoastalGasLink! https://act.gp/31inZ7u #DefundCGL #FossilBanks @GreenpeaceCA Tweet
Since 2015, @scotiabank put $174 BILLION into fossil fuels – funding #ClimateCrisis + Indigenous rights violations. As your client, I want you to HALT funding for dangerous fossil fuel projects like @CoastalGasLink! https://act.gp/3rvuQVx #DefundCGL #FossilBanks @GreenpeaceCA Tweet
Since 2015, @BMO dumped $137 BILLION into fossil fuels – funding #ClimateCrisis & Indigenous rights violations. As your client, I want you to HALT funding for dangerous fossil fuel projects like @CoastalGasLink! >> https://act.gp/3IkloKT #DefundCGL #FossilBanks @GreenpeaceCA Tweet
Since 2015, @cibc dumped $116 BILLION into fossil fuels – funding #ClimateCrisis & Indigenous rights violations. As your client, I want you to HALT funding for dangerous fossil fuel projects like @CoastalGasLink! >> https://act.gp/2ZPchAe #DefundCGL #FossilBanks @GreenpeaceCA Tweet
ACTION 2: SHARE THE STORIES OF LYTTON, SHACKAN & KAMLOOPS FIRE SURVIVORS
In October 2021, our team travelled to Lytton and the surrounding areas of Kamloops and Shackan B.C. to hear directly from those who have been impacted by the catastrophic extreme weather events fuelled by climate change over the summer.
Shortly after B.C. ‘s record-breaking heatwave that hit a scorching 49.6ºC, Lytton and the surrounding areas experienced uncontrollable, fast-moving wildfires. Families were separated, homes and businesses were burned to the ground and lives were lost.
Despite the devastation and hardship, fire survivors are speaking out. They want those funding fossil fuels to hear their message: Lytton is still here, and they want governing and financial institutions to put their money where their mouth is. Please amplify their voices online by sharing the videos below on your social media channels.
SHARE THIS VIDEO ON FACEBOOK
SHARE THIS VIDEO ON FACEBOOK
ACTION 3: TAG YOUR BANK IN THIS POST
Banks are funding climate change-fuelled extreme weather events and trampling Indigenous rights. Head to this post on our Instagram page and TAG your fossil bank in the comments of this post to let them know: cat’s outta the bag, their greenwashing won’t work on you!
Canada’s big 5 banks have made a public commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The International Energy Agency released a report this year emphasizing that achieving this goal requires NO investments in new fossil fuel fields and an accelerated phase-out of existing fossil fuel operations. The newly released report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) similarly underlined the urgency of ending fossil fuels, with the UN calling its latest climate science report to be a ‘death knell’ for coal, oil and gas.
Yet Canada’s big fossil banks are doing the opposite: they are funding MORE fossil fuels, to the tune of over $800 BILLION since the signing of the Paris Climate agreement in 2015.
As long as banks continue to dump money into coal, oil and gas, their “blah blah blah” pledges to reach so-called net-zero by 2050 along with their shiny greenwashing campaigns amount to precious little to stop the climate change impacts that are already being felt by communities across Canada, and around the world. It’s going to take a mass movement of people like you to make them follow the science and end fossil fuel financing.
ACTION 4: SIGN THE PETITION
Over the last couple of weeks, Canadians watched in horror as, once again, Indigenous peoples were forcibly removed at gunpoint from their unceded land. In the middle of catastrophic climate change-fuelled flooding, when highways and roads were being washed away and entire communities were being evacuated, a charter plane full of RCMP officers descended on Wet’suwet’en territory to protect the profits of, yup, you guessed it, a pipeline company.
Canada’s fossil banks are providing the funding for Coastal GasLink pipeline to be forced through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory without free, prior and informed consent.
Sign the petition now: Tell RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMP and CIBC to immediately stop financing for fossil fuel colonialism and withdraw loans from the Coastal GasLink pipeline:
Indigenous resistance to dangerous fossil fuel projects like the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline staved off 25% of U.S. and Canada’s annual emissions over the past decade, according to a new report.
There is no climate justice without protecting and respecting the rights of Indigenous communities. Despite pledges to respect free, prior and informed consent, Canada’s fossil banks continue to fund fossil fuel companies that are unwelcome on unceded Indigenous lands. Tell Canada’s fossil banks to put their money where their mouth is: end funding for Coastal GasLink pipeline immediately, respect Indigenous rights!
Thank you for participating in the online day of action: the more people speak out, the more likely Canada’s fossil banks will feel the pressure to end fossil fuel financing. Your voice matters. Find more ways to take action on our Fossil Banks Campaign page here.
Discussion
Instead of funding fossil fuels, we should be funding clean, renewable energy solutions and retrofits.
I am a TD banking customer with accounts, modest holdings and to whom I owe substantial home equity loan debts. At age 78+, I am not likely going to be found sitting on a huge tripod at the headquarters of the TD Bank in Toronto (Lol!) but I can and will take action, imploring my bank to stop financing fossil fuel industry. I have been an activist and ally of the Wet’suwet’en people protecting their unceded ancestral land for two years, so the fact that ‘my’ bank is a major contributor to the Coastal Gas Link company enrages me. I reiterate: I will be taking action to request that TD Bank stop contributing to climate catastrophe through their propping up of multiple fossil fuel industries. In hopes that one more letter will help, my best and grateful regards to the frontline Greenpeace activists. Carol
I have 3 daughters and 3 grandsons. Let's keep them safe from all of the problems in the world
Just to let you know, some of your supporters do not use Twitter.
We the people of Canada, Canadians, know when politicians are lying to us and if they lie too much, we won't elect them again. So please stop telling us you are fighting for climate change when your main support is going for fossil fuels and extending pipelines across native lands and without respecting the demands of the people living on those lands and even sending the police to arrest people who try to stop this idiocy. In BC we are having atmospheric rivers flooding the lowlands and meanwhile you still try to push the pipeline through.
Thank you Greenpeace for being the voice of conscious
I was thinking that it would be really useful to have a list of banks or credit unions that do not invest in oil. I would be very happy to switch accounts and I'm sure others would. This would probably be effective as the big banks would take notice.
Time to change before there’s nothing left to change for!
Time to change before there’s nothing left to change for, the time is NOW!