Without a strong message from shareholders, big banks will keep funding fossil fuel expansion and lending money to companies that violate Indigenous rights.

But big banks have to listen to their shareholders -- and your pension fund is a major shareholder.

Tell your pension fund to vote to stop fossil fuel expansion and to respect Indigenous rights at RBC and TD’s Annual General Meetings this April. 

This action opportunity is now closed.

On April 5th, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM)-- where RBC’s shareholders and executives gather to make key decisions about the coming year. Canada’s public pension funds hold over $2.8 billion in shares in RBC. And on April 20th, TD Bank is holding its AGM. Canadian pension funds hold over $2.4 billion in shares in TD. 

This year’s big bank AGMs are a clear opportunity for our pension funds to deliver on their promises to engage companies to protect our climate and respect Indigenous rights. Investors, Indigenous groups, community banks and allies have filed shareholder resolutions asking RBC to:

• Stop financing fossil fuel expansion;

• Set absolute emissions reduction targets for financing of oil & gas and power generation companies

• Ensure clients obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples. 

Investors also filed a shareholder resolution asking TD Bank to disclose a credible 2030 climate transition plan.

RBC and TD are Canada’s two biggest banks and talk a lot about their commitments to climate action and Indigenous rights. But the big banks’ record of financing oil, gas, coal and pipelines, including projects and companies that ignore Indigenous rights, tells a very different story. That’s why RBC and TD shareholders are pushing back against the bank’s fossil fuel finance, greenwashing and Indigenous rights violations at this year’s AGMs. 

We need Canadian pension funds to join them. Pension funds must ensure companies they own are working to solve the climate crisis, not making it worse. RBC’s and TD’s continued financing of fossil fuels and lack of credible climate plans are undermining the urgent action required to avoid catastrophic climate change, putting our collective future and our pension savings at risk. 

Our pension funds claim to care about investing our retirement savings in a safe climate future. They claim that their ownership of shares in companies like RBC and TD enables them to manage climate risks, reduce carbon emissions, and improve corporate behaviour. And they claim to use voting at AGMs as a way to encourage companies to take action on the climate crisis. 

The RBC AGM on April 7th and TD Bank AGM on April 20th are the ideal opportunity for our pension funds to prove it.

Tell your pension fund managers to vote for climate action and Indigenous rights at this spring’s big bank AGMs.

Want to learn more? Read our briefing on key climate-related RBC and TD shareholder resolutions here.