ACTIVIST CLAIM: International sustainable finance group report claims banks aren’t meeting environmental targets
THE FACTS: Investing in Canadian oil and gas means lower global environmental impacts.
THE SOURCES:
Banks far from hitting Paris climate targets, groups warn
Here are some facts and sources to have a reasoned conversation about investing in Canadian energy:
- Canadian banks financing Canadian oil and gas projects ensures that the suppliers of energy won’t shift to countries that are more polluting, less transparent, and less sensitive to societal pressures. Divesting from best in the world Canadian oil and gas is bad for the planet.
https://www.investnow.org/divestment-vs-investment/ - This BMO report already confirms that Canada is already the best in the world at producing oil and gas. Investing in Canadian oil and gas is investing in responsible energy.
https://research-ca.bmocapitalmarkets.com/documents/140A6529-CE63-4B90-A627-06768A001783.PDF\ - Banks investing in the Canadian oil and gas industry means they are investing in an industry that spends the most of any other industry on cleantech.
https://cleanresourceinnovation.com/preview-pdf/resource/CRIN%20Oil%20and%20Gas%20Innovation%20Ecosystem%20Presentation%202017.pdf - Technology like carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration is advancing rapidly and will continue to improve and be deployed in more places at lower costs to make more oil and gas production net-zero. In addition, emerging circular economy technologies hold the promise of true sustainability for oil and gas.
https://www.questerre.com/investor-news/questerre-expands-clean-tech-pilot-engineering-to-include-hydrogen/
https://www.iea.org/reports/ccus-in-clean-energy-transitions/a-new-era-for-ccus#growing-ccus-momentum - It is interesting to note that Canada’s Big 5 banks have committed to $1.25 trillion in “green” financing over the next decade.
https://www.cibc.com/en/about-cibc/corporate-responsibility/environment/sustainable-finance.html
https://www.td.com/ca/en/about-td/for-investors/economic-social-governance-reporting/
https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/about/responsibility-impact/climate-commitments.html
http://www.rbc.com/newsroom/news/2021/20210225-sustainable-financing.html
https://our-impact.bmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BMO-2020-Climate-Report-2.pdf
Stories that get it right
Canadian energy infrastructure needs power boost
Canada needs to export more energy to more markets in more parts of the world.
So says Krystle Wittevrongel, senior policy analyst and Alberta project lead at the Montreal Economic Institute.
Some of those places are European countries that depend on supplies of Russian natural gas, such as Bulgaria, Poland and Germany.
Germany is so dependent, says a government official in that country, that mass unemployment and poverty would result if it were to prematurely stop buying Russian oil and gas.
