When RBC introduced its Climate Blueprint in 2019, it spelled out the bank’s commitment to sustainability, including providing $100 billion in sustainable finance by 2025. The plan has been more successful – and created change more quickly – than anticipated.
“We exceeded our sustainable financing target in the first two years,” says Andrew Craig, senior director, sustainability at RBC. As a result, RBC updated the Blueprint – twice – and expanded its target to $500 billion to support sustainable companies and projects by 2025.
While RBC has a strong record of environmental stewardship, the Blueprint signified a fundamental change. Green initiatives were once considered a means for managing reputation, Craig explains. Now RBC has embedded climate as a core business strategy.
The RBC Climate Blueprint sets out five pillars to guide RBC’s focus on accelerating clean economic growth and supporting clients in a socially inclusive transition to net-zero. Four encompass short-to long-term commitments for addressing climate-related risks and opportunities. Measures include developing and expanding climate-related financial products and services; committing to net-zero emissions in its lending by 2050; deriving 100 per cent of RBC’s electricity from sustainable sources by 2025; and providing research and thought leadership on climate policy.
The fifth pillar is rooted in its Tech for Nature program, which brings together charitable partners, technology experts, the public and private sector – including RBC’s own unique capabilities – to build the multi-partner coalitions needed to work towards solving environmental challenges. Through this initiative, there are now over 120 partners being supported by the program, with more than $25 million invested to date.
Investing in the sustainable economy is crucial to RBC’s Purpose – to help clients thrive and communities prosper, Craig says. Many RBC clients, he adds, see climate-related innovation as a growth opportunity and have adopted new business practices – or are eager to do so.
“There’s not a lot of debate about the reality of climate change,” he says. “The debate is more about the pace and scale of the efforts required to address climate change and adapt to its effects. RBC is in a unique position to help our clients navigate the uncertainty and opportunity for clean economic growth.”
RBC’s belief that capital can be a force for positive change also means everyone at the bank has a part to play in contributing to a more sustainable and prosperous future, Craig adds. It’s a value system, he says, that helps attract and retain top talent.
That’s certainly true for Wazhma Wesa, manager, social impact, who joined RBC in 2019. With a background that includes graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Oxford, and experience in the international development sector, she was looking for an opportunity to help others.
“I wanted a job in the private sector with the capabilities and resources to have a positive impact on the world,” Wesa says. “This led me to RBC.”
Her responsibilities have included tracking the progress of environmental and social initiatives, including Tech for Nature. In addition to providing funding, Wesa says, RBC is leveraging its capabilities in artificial intelligence, blockchain and app development to help partners scale up their activities.
Tech for Nature is funding technology-driven programs in three key areas: data, innovation ecosystem and behaviour change. In the program’s first year, RBC worked with community partners on everything from citizen science projects to ventures for efficiently collecting, analyzing and sharing data to better understand the natural ecosystem.
And there’s been at least one spin-off benefit. Wesa says employees throughout RBC regularly ask about volunteer opportunities with those partners. “It’s rewarding to be part of a values-driven organization,” she says.
