CANADA – A breaking exclusive today from Global News reveals that the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) takes 1,500 of its employees and executives from around the world on an annual, week-long, all-expense paid Caribbean luxury cruise.
Amidst an affordability crisis, this comes on the heels of the hottest year on record, following devastating climate impacts like fires, floods, and deadly smoke and heat, which RBC’s US$250 billion in fossil fuel financing enables.
“While it’s crucial to honor and appreciate the labour of workers, spending millions on a carbon bomb cruise, during an affordability crisis, while the world burns, is a clear example of out of touch decision making by bank leadership,” said Richard Brooks, Stand.earth Climate Finance Director. “This tactless approach is why RBC has amongst the worst records in the world on financing dirty energy companies versus climate solutions.”
Luxury cruises are carbon bombs. A seven-day Caribbean cruise emits the equivalent of burning 3.5 million pounds of coal, and generates “about double the amount of total greenhouse gas emissions” as flying.
In contrast to the $50,000 that RBC donated for wildfire relief efforts in Summer 2023, this lavish cruise is expected to top $2 million.
RBC is currently under investigation by the Competition Bureau of Canada for allegedly misleading consumers with climate-related advertising while continuing to increase financing for coal, oil and gas, including in extreme energy like fracking and tar sands. RBC’s ratio of financing renewables to fossil fuels is abysmally low 0.37:1 according to Bloomberg NEF.
RBC is set to hold its annual shareholder meeting in Toronto, Ontario on April 11, 2024. The New York City Comptroller, on behalf of several NYC pension funds, recently filed high-profile and novel shareholder resolutions with six North American banks. The resolution calls for a report on the banks’ financing of clean vs dirty energy. RBC is the sole Canadian bank in receipt of this resolution.
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For more on the #FossilFreeRBC campaign, visit: FossilFreeRBC.org
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