RBC is committed to proactive and prudent management of the
environmental aspects of our business. The RBC
Environmental Blueprint describes the policies, priorities
and objectives supporting this commitment. We believe that
fulfilling our environmental goals will lead to short- and
long-term benefits for clients, shareholders, employees and
the communities in which we live and conduct business.
2010 Performance Highlights
RBC sponsors 2010 Imagine
H20 Innovation Challenge
RBC announces
final wave of 2010 RBC Blue Water Project Leadership Grant
recipients
RBC and Earth Day Canada announce
Hometown Heroes winner
RBC
announces sponsorship of Alexandra Cousteau's North American
Expedition on Water Issues
Small businesses
are 'going green': RBC survey
RBC
to hold first-ever Blue Water Day on June 11, 2010
RBC
announces first wave of 2010 RBC Blue Water Project Leadership
Grant recipients
RBC
receives SAP "Sustainability in Business" award
Ontario Science
Centre names RBC as new environment partner
RBC named one of
Canada's Greenest Employers in 2010
RBC counts
down to Blue Water Day by giving $1.4 million to Canadian
environmental pioneers
Acadia
University wins RBC ‘water’ competition
RBC
and Imagine H20 announce winners of first global water prize
A wave of support:
RBC calls for Blue Water Project Grant applications
RBC
Blue Water Project commits $1 million to help rebuild Haiti
infrastructure
| Priorities |
2009 Performance Highlights |
| Reduce the intensity
of our environmental footprint |
Issued the RBC Employee
Environmental Stewardship Guidelines to all RBC employees
worldwide
Opened 27 new green powered branches in Canada; as of
fiscal year-end, we had 96 branches powered by 8,068 megawatt
hours (MWh) of EcoLogo certified green power, representing
a carbon dioxide reduction of 2,749 tonnes in 2009
Increased the proportion of certified sustainably sourced
office paper across our North American and British Isles
operations to 84%, compared to 15% in 2008 |
| Promote environmentally responsible business
activities |
Performed detailed environmental credit
risk assessments on 750 transactions in Canada and the
U.S.
Analyzed the exposure of borrowers and sectors in our
loan and investment portfolio to climate change risks
and regulations
Applied the Equator Principles to six large projects |
| Offer environmental
products and services |
Loans and trading lines
outstanding in excess of $1 billion to clean energy companies
in Canada, United States and British Isles
Traded over 121 million tonnes of carbon credits in 2009
through our Capital Markets emissions trading group
Launched the RBC Energy Saver™ loan, which enables
Canadian clients who make a qualifying environmentally
friendly purchase for their home to receive a 1% discount
on a fixed rate instalment loan over $5,000 |
| Vital Statistics |
2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
| Office paper
use (kilograms/FTE) |
56 |
59 |
60 |
| CO2e emissions from energy
use* (tonnes/m2) |
.10 |
.09 |
.05 |
| CO2e emissions
from employee travel (tonnes/FTE) |
.34 |
.36 |
.38 |
| Transactions assessed under
Equator Principles |
6 |
5 |
6 |
* Energy data coverage increased in 2009
and affected this indicator. Please see page 51 for details.
Issues
- Lending to carbon-intensive industries: There is
a growing level of NGO opposition to banks that provide
financing to carbon intensive sectors, especially oil sands
development and coal-fired power generation. We believe
that financial services companies must carefully balance
environmental concerns, society's needs and economic opportunity
by providing credit responsibly to all sectors. We also
believe that it is the role of a country's national and
local governments, working in partnership with key stakeholders,
to determine how a country's natural resources will be developed.
- Responsibility for client emissions: Certain NGOs
and members of the responsible investment community are
asking banks to report publicly on the carbon dioxide emissions
of clients to whom we provide financing services, especially
those of energy companies. We believe that transparency
is important and that it is the responsibility of our clients
to track, report on and manage their emissions in accordance
with environmental regulations, industry best practices
and other applicable standards. We are concerned that by
being asked to report on our clients' emissions, we might
then be expected to police them, a role that rightly belongs
with environmental regulators. Further, the reality is that
every company and individual to whom we lend is an emitter
of carbon dioxide, and there are many other types of emissions
in addition to carbon dioxide that are environmentally important.
This leads to a lack of clarity about where a bank would
draw the line.
- Growth of green energy: The emergence of incentives
such as government rebates, tax credits and feed-in tariffs
has enhanced the business case for renewable energy projects,
and we see a corresponding growth in requests for financing
in this area. We are pleased to support the renewable energy
sector, and we expect this portion of our lending to grow
as more companies enter this market.
Learn more about RBC
and the Environment
