Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz is calling on the four remaining Canadian banks in a United Nations banking alliance created by Liberal leader hopeful Mark Carney to abandon ship.
“The alliance is a bit of a scam. It’s designed to give Liberals like Carney a platform to virtue signal about the environment,” said Schulz. “But it is designed to also attack industries who are actually lowering emissions.”
Schulz told True North that it’s only a matter of time until the alliance uses its leverage to restrict financing to other industries it does not like, such as mining, forestry, and others.
Schulz argued that the attacks resulted in a higher cost of living for everyday Albertans and Canadians. She added that it means a worse economy, less money, and fewer jobs.
Meanwhile, Schulz said that international agreements like this alliance do nothing to combat global emissions but hurt hard-working Canadians.
“It’s time to bring back common sense and put the prosperity of our people ahead of ideological Liberal policies,” she said.
Four Canadian banks withdrew from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance on Jan. 17. The four banks were Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), TD Bank Group, National Bank of Canada, and BMO Financial Group.
Schulz said the four banks leaving the alliance was “great news.” She added that the departure followed various banks in the United States also abandoning the alliance.
Four departed, and four remain. The remaining four Canadian banks in the alliance are Coast Capital, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and Vancity.
Schulz told True North that she hopes all Canadians put pressure on the remaining banks in the alliance to abandon the “ideological and out-of-touch policies.”
“It’s time for Ottawa to abandon their ideological and partisan pet-projects and start putting Canadian families and workers first once again,” she added.
Schulz also took aim at Carney in her statement to True North.
“He’s a multi-millionaire Liberal elite and Justin Trudeau’s top economic advisor. He likes to claim he’s a ‘political outsider.’ He’s no such thing. He’s as big of an insider as it gets,” she said.
Schulz said that Carney’s environmental activism is no different than that of the Liberal-NDP government. She added that he’s supported policies throughout his career that harm Alberta’s main industries and increase the cost of living for every Canadian, like the carbon tax, the proposed oil and gas cap, the energy transition, and even Greta Thunberg’s ‘shut it all down’ movement, which he allegedly considers himself apart of.
“Canadians may not know who he is yet, but we know his work. Mark Carney is just another out-of-touch Liberal elite, disconnected from the everyday concerns of Albertans,” she said.
President and CEO of RBC, Dave McKay, said he did not sense a waning commitment to climate change. He admitted that some U.S. banks have said the alliance is not the right mechanism to effect change but that pulling out doesn’t mean abandoning net zero.
“I think you can expect us, as long as our societies are still committed to the journey, and I hope they are, you will see us continue to support that,” said McKay.
An RBC spokesperson told True North that they are not providing any more information than what McKay discussed briefly at the Canadian Bank CEO Conference.
A spokesperson for Vancity told True North that this was a new development and they had nothing to share on the matter at this time.
Every bank in the alliance has signed the commitment statement.
The commitment forces banks to transition greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 or earlier. Banks must also set 2030 targets within 18 months of joining, along with a 2050 target and interim goals to be met every five years.
The Net Zero Banking Alliance is part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance, which Carney assembled in 2021. Working as the UN’s Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, he previously called on banks to join the alliance before COP 26 in 2021.
Over the last few months, various U.S. bank giants have withdrawn from the alliance. Among them are JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs.
True North contacted Coast Capital and Scotiabank but received no reply.
