[All] banks bearing gifts

Tue Nov 3 14:37:35 EST 2009

There is such a thing as fudiciary responsibility.  

When I invest in a liquor or tobacco company I do not want them donating money to the campaigne to stop smoking or banning tobacco and liquor.  If I did I would invest in another type of company.  The ethical company for instance, but is looses a lot of money.

The same thing is true for any other company that does and promotes one thing then turns and takes my money and runs off in some other direction.  

I INVEST IN A CERTAIN COMPANY FOR ONE REASON ONLY...THAT IS TO MAKE MONEY!

If  I can be morally and ethically grounded in the process that is good too, but not at the expense of my investment.  TO MAKE MONEY!
This is usually an indication that the banks have more money than what they need and they do not want to give it back to the shareholders.  Even in this, recession, depression, economic downturn, or what ever you may call it the banks are still making lots of money.  Life is good, their shareholders must be happy and the over charging the banks do has been under estimated again so they have money to give away.

I suspect this is a slush fund, only understood by those in high finance.  It is probably similar to our money going to GM and Chrysler and other select dead beats.  In any event those who will get the money will be in a position to return something, worth more than the money, back to the banks. 

The banks are not philanthropic!

Can anyone tell me what Environmental Progress means?  (ie. more than 21% oxygen in the atmosphere?  It only rains in the night time? the wind is always against your back? political double talk?

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Peter Kofler 
  To: Louisette Lanteigne ; all at gren.ca 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:23 PM
  Subject: Re: [All] Fw: GRCA News: Grant from RBC will help rural property owners protect water quality

  You've got to be kidding me. I realize it's important to look at the positive aspects of what powerful players like the banks are doing, but it's also important to put things into perspective and realize 1) what represents balance; 2) how ridiculously, unacceptably far RBC and most of the other banks are from that and 3) what amounts to little more than clever PR, all the while maintaining status quo. 

  To put it into mathematical perspective, RBC's net surplus funding of fossil fuels (total fossil fuel funding less total renewables funding) of CDN$14.2 billion is about 284 times more than their CDN$50 million investment in the blue water project (of which they've apparently only released CDN$9.5 million so far).

  It would be as if I gave you a $1000 cash donation - and then sauntered over to Activa's local headquarters and gave them $284000, with the understanding that they would only spend it directly on ruining water quality and supply and ecosystem health. 

  I'm sorry, but putting positive spin on this story in RBC's favour borders on the implausible. What it tells me is that at present they have very little intention of becoming good corporate environmental citizens in substance - mainly in appearance. When real things like livable climate and environment are at stake here - appearance doesn't count for much. 

  I think the attached articles speak eloquently to this.  

  http://joshuakahnrussell.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/toronto-activists-award-rbc-fossil-fool-of-the-year-for-tar-sands-financing/

  http://www.tarsandswatch.org/banks-add-tonnes-carbon-footprint-study-says

  Banks add tonnes to carbon footprint, study says
  Posted: November 20, 2008 
  Section: Global Warming

  Hanneke Brooymans, November 20, 2008, The Edmonton Journal -- Canada's five largest banks financed emissions of 624 million tonnes of carbon dioxide last year in the form of oil, gas and coal operations, a new study says.

  To put this in context, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions from all energy use across the country -- including all power plants, industry and manufacturing, transportation, homes and offices -- totalled 583 million tonnes of CO2 in 2006, says the report, written by the Rainforest Action Network.

  There is some overlap in those two numbers, but not all fossil fuels produced in the country are burned here. In total, 721 million tonnes of greenhouse gases were released in Canada in 2006.

  The network is particularly concerned about oilsands development, because if all the projected investments go through, greenhouse gas emissions from that sector would double by 2012, negating Canada's reduction targets for green-house gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

  "Banks play a very key role in the process of addressing climate change as financiers of both the drivers of climate change -- fossil fuels -- and also the financiers of clean energy and other low carbon solutions we're going to need to address the climate crisis," said Bill Barclay, lead author of Financing Global Warming: Canadian Banks and Fossil Fuels. (The full report is available at www.climatefriendlybanking.org/bankreport.)

  While banks often track and report the carbon emissions associated with running their offices and staff travels, such "operational emissions" are dwarfed by the volume of climate-changing emissions that result from the projects they finance, so-called "financed emissions," says the report.

  The decisions these top banks make greatly impact the trajectory of the country's future greenhouse gas emissions.

  "The resistance of banks to address the climate impacts of their financing jeopardizes the climate, the economy, and public health," the report goes on to say.

  The banks in question are RBC, TD Bank, Scotiabank, CIBC and BMO. The report also looks at the practices of Desjardins and Vancity.

  RBC was listed as the bank with the most financing of fossil fuel projects.

  "We agree climate change is a really important global challenge," said Stephanie Lu, an RBC spokeswoman, "and we've been doing a lot for some time to do our part." She said RBC requires project proponents to conduct a comprehensive social and environmental review of the impacts of projects as a condition of financing.

  "We actually are building our portfolio to support renewable energy and clean technology," Lu said. "We provide investment banking, financing and advisory services to clients in the renewable energy sector, including wind farms, hydro-electric power and biomass installations."

  She said RBC practises a high level of due diligence to identify, assess and help lessen the environmental risks associated with lending to their clients.

  Still, Barclay noted fossil-fuel projects received 14 times more money than renewable energy projects.

  "These ratios will have to shift dramatically as we fight climate change," he said.

  Individuals can help, too. A person's choice of bank can have a large impact on their personal carbon footprint, Barclay said. Banks leverage every dollar deposited into $10 to $15 of new lending. Deposit accounts held in any of the top five high-carbon banks have carbon footprints ranging from 970 to 1,430 kilograms larger per $10,000 than a deposit account held in Vancity, the lowest carbon bank, and 25 to 38 times larger than Desjardins, the second-lowest-carbon bank.

  Joseph Doucet doesn't think this information will influence people to move their accounts. "People don't change their bank accounts too often," said Doucet, a professor of energy and economic policy in the School of Business at the University of Alberta.

  There aren't a lot of banking options in Canada and it can be complicated and time-consuming to move routine transactions, like direct deposits and payments, between accounts, he said.

  Doucet also thinks the Rainforest Action Network is focusing its attention on the wrong player.

  "The banks aren't project developers," he said. "The banks are there with suitcases of cash and they wait for someone to come to them with project proposals."

  BY THE NUMBERS

  - Direct fossil fuels funding: RBC $15.9 billion; TD $7.9 billion; Scotiabank $12 billion; BMO $10.2 billion; CIBC $9.2 billion; Desjardins $0.23 billion; Vancity $0

  - Direct renewable energy funding: RBC $1.7 billion; TD $0.8 billion; Scotiabank $1.5 billion; BMO $0.7 billion; CIBC $2.1 billion; Desjardins $0.01 billion; Vancity $0

  - Total financed carbon dioxide as percentage of Canada's total energy emissions: RBC 34 per cent; TD 21 per cent; Scotiabank 15 per cent; BMO 17 per cent; CIBC 17 per cent; Desjardins three per cent; Vancity less than 0.1 per cent

  http://understory.ran.org/2009/09/24/gord-nixon-off-balance/#more-4039

  Gord Nixon: Off Balance

  posted by Brant in Freedom from Oil, RAN General on September 24th, 2009

  RBC CEO Gord Nixon should be putting his bank’s money where his mouth is. Last week, he offered an incoherent defense of RBC’s “balanced approach” to the environment after RAN activists confronted him on the bank’s financial support for expansion of Canada’s tar sands.

  Recognizing his stumble, Nelson hit the papers this week to explain. “You can’t over-emphasize the environment at huge cost to the economy” Nixon told the National Post, “and at the same time you cannot do things economically that are a huge cost to the environment.”

  Below the surface, though, RBC’s “balanced approach” is anything but. Nixon clarifies that the Bank’s environmental commitment “…doesn’t mean you can’t lend to someone in the oil sands.” In fact, with more than $14.3 billion (USD) in credit extended since to the sector 2007, nobody lends more to oil sands companies than RBC.

  Compare this with RBC’s environmental commitments. Nixon points to RBC’s Blue Water Project

  “…which, at $50-million, is the biggest philanthropic project for the bank. It is dedicated towards water initiatives in the world from financings that impact wetlands to financing clean-water projects or drilling wells in Nicaragua. We try to do our part.”

  Look under the hood, though, and The Blue Water Project looks more like a public relations project. Three years since its launch, the bank has issued just $9.5 million in grants. During the same time period, RBC earned more than $84 million (USD) in underwriting fees from tar sands companies. How’s that for balance?

  If Nixon were serious about sustainability, he would recognize that the tar sands need to be stopped. That was the recommendation earlier this week from Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. French Bank Dexia and the UK’s Co-Op Bank have both established policies that maintain shareholder returns while effectively prohibiting any lending to tar sands companies. RBC should seek a similar balance.

  http://www.indigenousportal.com/Climate-Change/Mrs.-Nixon-please-help-us-stop-the-tar-sands.html

        Mrs. Nixon, please help us stop the tar sands 

        Thursday, 06 August 2009 

        Published by Joshua Kahn Russell
        July 28th, 2009

        During rush-hour commute this morning, two Indigenous Canadian women – Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, and Heather Milton-Lightening – scaled flagpoles in front of the main entrance of Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC’s) headquarters in Toronto, dropping a banner reading “Please Help Us Mrs. Nixon.com” – appealing to the bank to pull its massive investments in Alberta tar sands projects. Supported by RAN, the Ruckus Society, and their Indigenous People’s Power Project, they were joined by dozens of Toronto RAN activists, swarming entrances to ensure every RBC employee heard our appeal Mrs. Janet Nixon, the wife of RBC CEO Gordon Nixon, to lend her strong and influential voice to those fighting to protect Canada’s clean water and respect Indigenous rights by pushing RBC to stop bankrolling the tar sands. They handed out flyers, held banners, and even circled the building on bikes with “Please Help Us Mrs. Nixon.com” flags.

        RBC is the ATM of the Tar Sands.

        They are a leading investor in what has been called the dirtiest project on Earth and is one of the greatest social and ecological injustices of our time. Unless they’re stopped by grassroots pressure, oil companies will transform a boreal forest the size of Florida into an industrial sacrifice zone – complete with lakes full of toxic waste that are so big that you can see them from outer space. Tar sands projects poison First Nations Communities, pollute precious water resources, kill wildlife, and are the single biggest contributor to global warming from Canada.

        At the same time as the banner was being unfurled, thousands of RAN supporters and allies began emailing a video to key RBC executives – in which RAN’s Michael Brune appeals to Mrs. Nixon to help RBC offer leadership by withdrawing its funding for the tar sands. (If you haven’t participated in this online action yet, it’s not too late! You can view the video at www.PleaseHelpUsMrsNixon.com and take action when you're done watching.)

        The banner was up for over two hours, and a large crowd of people gathered to watch. Several RBC executives also joined us, watching in embarrassment. In the end, the police let the two climbers go without making any arrests; the climbers were given citations.

        This action is also the culmination of a month-long guerrilla wheatpasting campaign by RAN Toronto, who have covered the city with hundreds of posters bearing the message “Please Help Us Mrs. Nixon” – leaving people in Toronto wondering what these posters are all about. (But in case Janet Nixon herself was unsure who she was being asked to help, we had a letter from RAN delivered to her home address yesterday.)

        While Janet Nixon is the wife of RBC’s CEO, we are appealing her today because she is also a committed environmentalist, and has been instrumental in shaping RBC’s Blue Water Project. But while pledging $50 million to help fight water pollution over the next ten years, RBC has loaned $2.3 billion to tar sands companies in the last two years alone.

        We stand at a cross roads. Does RBC want to help lead our country by investing in clean renewable energy? Or continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel of dirty oil at a cost far too high? Tar sands oil expansion is devastating the regional environment, contaminating Canada’s precious water supply, endangering wildlife, threatening First Nations’ health and preventing Canada from meeting its climate commitments. Indigenous First Nations communities downstream have experienced polluted water, water reductions in rivers and aquifers, increased cancer, and declines in wildlife population that threaten to destroy their traditional ways of life.

        RBC has a critical role to play in investing in Canada’s clean energy future. RBC must require clients to provide evidence of free, prior and informed consent from First Nations on projects affecting their communities, as the first step of a phase-out of financing and advisory services to all tar sands projects which have adverse impacts on the environment. The bank must develop an action plan to reduce ‘financed emissions’ related to all lending activities that impact the climate.

        We know that Mrs. Nixon cares deeply about clean water, and so we’re appealing directly to her to help us push RBC to make a meaningful commitment to clean water, by ending its financing of the tar sands – rather than giving fistfuls of cash to Big Oil’s dirtiest project ever, while donating its spare change to clean water projects.

        Mrs. Nixon, will you help us? (And Mr. Nixon: if you want to help us stop the tar sands too, there’s no need to wait for your wife to take the lead.)
        __________________________
        www.itsgettinghotinhere.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 18:05:51 -0800
  From: butterflybluelu at rogers.com
  To: all at gren.ca
  Subject: [All] Fw: GRCA News: Grant from RBC will help rural property owners protect water quality

        Hi folks

        Even though RBC is the main finance company of the Alberta Tar Sands, it's good to see efforts made to help water at this end of the world.

        Lulu :0)

        --- On Mon, 11/2/09, Dave Schultz <dschultz at grandriver.ca> wrote:

          From: Dave Schultz <dschultz at grandriver.ca>
          Subject: GRCA News: Grant from RBC will help rural property owners protect water quality
          To: 
          Received: Monday, November 2, 2009, 9:39 AM

          Grand River Conservation Authority
          News Release

          Monday, Nov. 2, 2009
          Release ON RECEIPT

          Grant from RBC will help rural property owners protect water quality
          The Grand River Conservation Authority is expanding its programs for rural property owners, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the RBC Blue Water Project to the Grand River Conservation Foundation. 
          The RBC Leadership Grant will help the GRCA provide advice to rural landowners – both farm and non-farm – on how to protect water quality on their land. 
          “When it comes to rural water quality, one of our biggest challenges is meeting public demand,” said Tracey Ryan, GRCA’s Supervisor of Extension Services. “People want to protect their waterways – it’s simply a matter of having the resources to do so.”
          “With two-year support from the RBC Blue Water Fund, the GRCA will now be able to reach all rural landowners with advice and provide financial support for them to protect their part of the Grand River watershed,” said Ryan.
          The money will be used to increase capacity in the GRCA’s Rural Water Quality and rural non-farm programs. It will be used to broaden outreach activities such as landowner contact and a series of five workshops for rural non-farm residents. It will allow the GRCA to extend the reach of its existing Rural Water Quality Program to parts of the watershed where it’s not currently in place, such as Dufferin and Haldimand counties. Farmers will be able to apply for grants to implement projects to protect water quality.
          Rural non-farm participants will be introduced to the Rural Landowner Stewardship Guide which will help them evaluate the effect their property and actions have on the environment. They’ll receive advice on the value of upgrading wells, improving septic systems and planting trees for windbreaks. Some landowners may be eligible to apply for grants to undertake these projects. 
          RBC has committed $50 million to its Blue Water Project to provide grants over 10 years to support initiatives that foster a culture of water stewardship.  The program is designed to make measurable, meaningful differences to communities and the environment.
          “RBC is proud to support watershed management, conservation and water treatment through our Blue Water program,” said Jane Black, RBC Regional Vice President, Greater Waterloo. “We want to make sure the Grand River watershed continues to provide ecosystem services, such as drinking water supply, a critical habitat for plants and animals and an area of natural beauty for many years to come.” 

          -30-

          About RBC
          RBC believes in building prosperity by contributing to the communities in which we live and work.  We are now one of Canada’s largest corporate donors, and we support a broad range of community initiatives, through donations, sponsorships and employee volunteer activities. In 2008, RBC contributed more than $99 million to community causes worldwide.  As a founding member of Imagine Canada, RBC is committed to donating at least one per cent of our average annual net income before taxes. For more information, please visit http://www.rbc.com/donations/

          Further information:
          Dave Schultz, GRCA Manager of Communications            
          Phone: (519) 621-2763, Ext. 2273; Cell: (519) 658-3896          
          E-mail: dschultz at grandriver.ca Website: www.grandriver.ca

          Greg Skinner, RBC, Manager of Communications
          Phone: (416) 974-5904: E-mail: greg.skinner at rbc.com

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