Faith leaders demand Canada’s big banks stop funding fossil fuel companies

On a cold, rain-lashed Wednesday morning a solemn procession of faith leaders marched through the heart of Toronto’s financial district, dressed in black as if attending a funeral. The somber sky fit the mood perfectly.  

A casket they carried was symbolic of a dying planet and the loss of well-being future generations will suffer, as they are sacrificed at the altar of fossil fuel profit.

“We're bringing a coffin to represent the 1 billion who will die at a two-degree temperature rise, which is virtually certain at this point, and it is coming ahead. And this is from drought, famine, floods, heat waves, and so many horrible ways that we can only prevent it by acting now,” Lyn Adamson, a member of the interfaith coalition Faith and Climate Action, told The Pointer.

On May 21, a faith activists group representing various Christian communities, Faith and Climate Action, stood vigil outside the Royal Bank of Canada headquarters on Bay Street, singing climate-themed adaptations of protest songs, including a powerful rendition of Bella Ciao.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

Their voices echoed through the concrete jungle of Canada’s banking capital:

“We need to wake up

We need to wise up

We need to open our eyes and do it now, now, now

We need to build a better future

And we need to start right now

We’re on a planet

That has a problem

We’ve got to solve it, get involved, and do it now, now, now

Make it greener

Make it cleaner

Make it last, make it fast, and do it now, now, now

No point in waiting

Or hesitating

We must get wise, take no more lies, and do it now, now, now…”.

Some passersby paused, intrigued by the familiar melody and altered lyrics. But what they couldn’t see was the quieter protest unfolding inside RBC’s headquarters: a “pray-in,” where activists gathered in silent prayer and reflection as an act of civil disobedience.

 Faith and Climate Action activists during a nonviolent “pray-in” on May 21, inside the RBC building.

(Faith and Climate Action)

Their demand: Canada’s big banks, particularly RBC, stop financing fossil fuel projects, including the contentious Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline in British Columbia, Coastal GasLink Phase 2 (CGL2), and Ksi Lisims LNG terminal, which depends on PRGT for gas supply.

The group is urging financial institutions to say no to new fossil fuel financing, set a clear and enforceable timeline to phase out existing fossil fuel investments, and fully respect Indigenous rights by securing free, prior, and informed consent for all related decisions.

Adamson says the activist group has engaged in ongoing dialogue with RBC leadership, but they “have seen no meaningful response.” 

Lyn Adamson talking about the people who have lost their lives to climate change-fueled disasters.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

“RBC representatives acknowledge the need for sustainability and have published reports, but in practice, they’ve walked back their commitments to carbon neutrality. We don’t believe they are fully committed yet,” she noted.

Despite repeated efforts, including letter-writing campaigns, formal meetings with bank representatives, submitted briefs, and even a prayer vigil held inside the bank a year ago, their concerns have been met with silence or delay.

Protesters singing and providing support to their fellow activists who were being arrested.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

This silence persisted until Toronto police arrived, forcibly removing five protesters from inside the building, including Michael Polanyi, who went limp in resistance, as other activists continued to sing loudly, waving to one another in solidarity as security personnel looked on, while some RBC employees observed the scene.

Michael Polanyi being dragged out of the RBC building.

(Faith and Climate Action)

“As people of faith, we won't stop peacefully resisting this deliberate attack on the health of our children and grandchildren, and on all of creation, even if it means going to jail,” Michael Polanyi, a member of a Toronto Unitarian congregation, said. 

In 2022, RBC was named the world’s largest financier of fossil fuels, contributing $42.1 billion to fossil fuel companies, according to the 2023 Banking on Climate Chaos report. The report also revealed that since the Paris Agreement came into effect in 2016, RBC had funnelled a total of $254 billion into fossil fuel financing, surpassing even U.S.-based JPMorgan Chase for the first time since 2019.

JPMorgan Chase reclaimed its position as the world’s leading fossil fuel financier in 2023, helping channel $40.8 billion into the industry. RBC, while no longer at the top, still ranked as the seventh largest financier globally—a drop in rank that offers little relief for Canada’s environmental reputation.

Behind the scenes, banks known for their retail services including various personal and business accounts and mortgage lending, play a powerful and less visible role in shaping our planet’s future. Through loans, underwriting services and investments, banks pour billions of dollars into oil, gas and coal companies every year, financing the construction of pipelines and investing in shares of mining companies that enable the continued extraction and burning of carbon-heavy fuels.

These activities are invisible to the average customer. Most people don’t realize that the money they deposit doesn’t simply sit in a vault; it’s used by the bank to make more money, often by lending to large corporations, including fossil fuel companies. 

The oil and gas industry often requires massive amounts of upfront capital to explore new oil fields, drill wells, or build infrastructure like pipelines and refineries. Banks step in to provide that capital, effectively keeping the fossil fuel industry alive and expanding, even as the world faces mounting climate threats.

It doesn’t stop with banks. 

Many Canadians also unknowingly support fossil fuels through their retirement savings. Pension funds, whether through employer-sponsored plans, personal RRSPs, or even the Canada Pension Plan, frequently invest in fossil fuel companies. These stocks have long been seen as blue-chip investments, valued for their stability and returns. That view is becoming outdated with climate change increasingly being seen as a financial risk.

What has not changed, though, is the massive investment by banks that have supported fossil fuel companies for decades. The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline is a stark example. 

Backed by major U.S. private equity firms like Blackstone and Apollo Global Management, and co-owned by the Nisga’a Lisims Government and Texas-based Western LNG, the PRGT is intended to transport fracked gas from northeastern B.C. to the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG terminal on the province’s northern coast. Construction quietly began in August, just months ahead of a critical November deadline to demonstrate the project is “substantially started,” a requirement tied to a decade-old provincial environmental assessment certificate.

The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project is an approximately 800 to 900-kilometre pipeline intended to transport fracked natural gas from northeastern British Columbia to Pearse Island, near Prince Rupert.

(Impact Assessment Agency of Canada)

Methane emissions, ecosystem destruction and the increased risk of ocean pollution and whale strikes from LNG tanker traffic have drawn intense opposition, leading to ongoing blockades by Indigenous and non-Indigenous community groups since March, with a judicial review currently before the B.C. Supreme Court.

The pipeline’s route cuts across more than 1,300 waterways and five major watersheds, raising alarm among environmental groups and Indigenous communities.

(Government of British Columbia/EAC)

In April, Indigenous leaders from B.C. and national climate organizations attended RBC’s Annual General Meeting in Toronto, including Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks, who emphasized that his community had not consented to PRGT, accusing the bank of funding a pipeline that has disrupted rivers, damaged wetland forests, and curtailed his people’s right to hunt and live off the land.

“Our continued presence at RBC’s Annual General Meeting reminds the banks leadership of the impacts of its decision to fund projects that lack our free, prior and informed consent and warns them that projects like LNG Canada Phase 2 lack our consent. RBC risks its own credibility and financial stability by continuing on this reckless path of being Canada’s top fossil fuel funding bank,” Chief Na’Moks said. 

Critics argue a legally required cumulative effects assessment was never completed before work began. The larger vision for PRGT, feeding gas to the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal, also remains speculative, as the project still lacks both regulatory approval and a final investment decision.

“Indigenous nations in the north and across Turtle Island are standing together to hold investors accountable for financing projects that threaten climate and violate Indigenous rights. This movement is only growing and won’t stop until RBC and other major investors understand and respect Free, Prior and Informed consent,” Sleydo’, wing chief for Cas Yikh and spokesperson for Gidimt’en Checkpoint, said.

Despite claims that LNG is a cleaner alternative to coal, its full climate impact, especially from methane leaks during extraction, transport and export, can be just as harmful. Studies show LNG often displaces renewable energy, not coal, undermining real climate progress.

(Clean Arctic Alliance)

If allowed to proceed, the climate consequences would be severe. The LNG terminal is expected to emit approximately 4.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, roughly equivalent to adding more than a million gasoline-powered cars to B.C.’s roads each year. Together with emissions from LNG Canada’s Phase 1, poised to become B.C.’s largest single greenhouse gas emitter, the project would derail both provincial and national climate targets.

“Amidst industry clamour for new pipelines and short-term profit, the catastrophic human impacts of worsening fires, floods, storms and heat from a continued reliance on fossil fuels is being forgotten,” Revered Michael Van Dusen said. 

“We, as people of faith, feel called to take action to push back hard the idea that more fossil fuel projects will somehow be good for Canada.”

In its 2024 Sustainability Report, released April 29, 2025, RBC announced it was abandoning its $500 billion sustainable finance target, initially set for 2025, citing internal flaws in its methodology and recent changes to Canada’s Competition Act, which now require companies to substantiate environmental claims.

RBC explained that, upon review, it "concluded that it may not have appropriately measured certain sustainable finance activities on a cumulative basis." As a result, the bank has retired its target, discontinued its in-house sustainable finance methodology, and is reevaluating its overall approach to climate-related financing.

RBC first introduced its sustainable finance strategy in 2019, setting the $500 billion goal in 2021 as a central pillar of its climate plan, which it said aligned with the Paris Agreement. 

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

Critics argued RBC’s financing practices told a different story. 

In 2022, Ecojustice filed a complaint under the Competition Act on behalf of six individuals, accusing RBC of greenwashing, promoting a false image of climate leadership while remaining a top global funder of fossil fuels, highlighting that some of RBC’s "sustainable finance" was directed to fossil fuel companies like Enbridge. The Competition Bureau's investigation remained ongoing.

In January 2024, a separate securities complaint was filed by the group Investors for Paris Compliance, further challenging RBC’s climate claims.

RBC also says the anti-greenwashing rules prevent it from disclosing key metrics such as its energy supply ratio—the proportion of its financing for low-carbon energy versus fossil fuels. The bank stated that “given the nascent nature of climate-related metrics, there are limited and evolving recognized methodologies for claims in these areas.”

Despite regulatory challenges, RBC reaffirmed that it will continue to monitor and report internally on its energy supply ratio.

Activists fear that financial institutions are taking advantage of shifting political climates, especially in the U.S. under Donald Trump, to weaken climate commitments and delay decarbonization. This has been evident with several major banks withdrawing from the UN-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance, originally launched by former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.

On May 27, King Charles stressed the importance of fast-tracking projects of national significance, but he also stressed doing that by fighting climate change.

“By removing these barriers that have held back our economy, we will unleash a new era of growth that will ensure we don’t just survive ongoing trade wars, but emerge from them stronger than ever. It will enable Canada to become the world’s leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy. To build an industrial strategy that will make Canada more globally competitive, while fighting climate change.”

Climate advocates are now urging Carney to step in, having been re-elected as the prime minister.

“The federal government can introduce regulations that increase financial transparency. Shareholders deserve to know the risks they’re exposed to and should be able to vote for a transition toward renewables,” Adamson said.

She says the group wants the government to stop subsidizing oil and gas and instead invest in a national renewable energy grid using wind, solar, and geothermal—cheaper and faster to implement than fossil fuels or nuclear. They also reject costly, unproven solutions like carbon capture, urging immediate, practical climate action instead.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

“Our economy must operate within ecological limits. If ecosystems are collapsing, if we’re losing pollinators, our biodiversity, we simply cannot sustain a healthy economy. Infinite growth is impossible, especially when that growth depends on fossil fuels. Canada could be a global leader in the transition to a green economy. Let’s choose that path,” she said, urging governments to stop prioritizing economic growth at the cost of environmental destruction. 

“We want our children to inherit a livable planet.”

Email: [email protected]

At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories to ensure every resident of Brampton, Mississauga and Niagara has access to the facts. For those who are able, we encourage you to consider a subscription. This will help us report on important public interest issues the community needs to know about now more than ever. You can register for a 30-day free trial HERE. Thereafter, The Pointer will charge $10 a month and you can cancel any time right on the website. Thank you