Tell your pension fund to vote for climate safety at this April’s Big Bank AGMs.
Without a strong message from shareholders, big banks will continue telling us that they’re committed to a safe climate, but won’t show their work and prove it. Meanwhile, the banks continue to pour billions into fossil fuels.
But big banks have to listen to their shareholders -- and your pension fund is a major shareholder.
Tell your pension fund to vote for climate safety at RBC and TD’s Annual General Meetings this April.
(Need more info before you take action? Click here).
Will your pension live up to its promises to engage on climate?
Update: Your pressure is working! RBC initially rejected the proposal, but has now agreed to disclose its clean energy financing ratio! Learn more in these news articles: NYC Pensions Reach Deal With RBC on Green-Funding Disclosure (Bloomberg) and RBC becomes bigger bank, and bigger target, as it closes HSBC Canada deal (Canadian Press). You can still use the action tool above to write to your pension manager about the resolution put forward at TD’s upcoming annual general meeting on April 18th.
On April 11th, 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 18th, TD Bank is holding its AGM. Canadian pension funds hold over $2.4 billion in shares in TD.
These AGMs are a powerful opportunity for our pension funds to deliver on their promises to engage companies to protect our climate.
Resolution at RBC
The New York City Comptroller, the investment manager for New York City’s public pension plans, has filed a shareholder resolution asking RBC to show how its clean energy financing compares to its fossil fuel financing.
The resolution proposes that the bank “disclose annually its Clean Energy Supply Financing Ratio (“Ratio”), defined as its total financing through equity and debt underwriting, and project finance, in low-carbon energy supply as a proportion of that in fossil-fuel energy supply.”
You can read the full details from the filer, the New York City Comptroller, here. You can view the shareholder resolution here (p.100).
Resolution at TD
Responsible investors filed a shareholder resolution asking TD Bank to show that it has a plan to line up its financing activities with a safe climate.
The resolution proposes that the bank “disclose transition activities that describe how it will align its financing with its 2030 sectoral emissions reduction targets, including specific measures and policies to be implemented, reductions to be achieved by such planned measures and policies, and timelines for implementation and associated emission reductions.”
You can read the full details from one of the resolution’s co-filers, Investors for Paris Compliance, here. You can view the resolution here (p.82).
Canadian pension funds can protect their investments from climate risk and protect our retirement by voting for climate safety at RBC and TD.
RBC and TD are Canada’s two biggest banks and talk a lot about their commitments to climate action. 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 it’s critical that RBC and TD shareholders push back and demand that the banks show they’re aligning their financing with a safe climate.
Pension funds must ensure companies they own are working to solve the climate crisis, not making it worse.
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 11th and TD Bank AGM on April 18th are the ideal opportunity for our pension funds to prove it.