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21 Apr 2008 People & Planet news. Climate Change

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RBS & Climate Change: Making it Happen!

The Royal Bank of Scotland's AGM is on 23 April in Edinburgh, so come along to hold them to account for their environmental crimes.

Can’t make it to Edinburgh? Don’t worry, you can still email the Chair of RBS to register your protest at RBS’ climate crimes.

It’s way past time that RBS-NatWest were held accountable for their environmental crimes. Their loans and financial services make some of the most destructive and controversial fossil fuel projects a reality. Projects like the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Long Lake Tar Sands or Kingsnorth (1) comprise some of the biggest threats to stopping climate change and RBS is making them happen.

The day will consist of a rally outside the RBS Global Central Branch in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, where RBS will be put on trial. The crowd will hear statements from witnesses or RBS funded projects and be asked to make up their mind about whether RBS is guilty/complicit in the environmental crimes described.

The crowd, accompanied by the witnesses, will move on to a number of RBS and NatWest branches across Edinburgh to deliver witness statements, the verdict and the sentence to the branch managers.

After visiting a number of important locations the procession will then move on to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre as the shareholders are arriving to deliver the statements and the verdict to the Board of Directors and Chairman Tom McKillop.

If you would like to prepare a witness statement or play a role in the trial, or if you would like more information email Pete.

Can’t Make it To Edinburgh?

Not a problem, email RBS Group Chair Sir Tom McKillop and tell RBS to stop financing climate chaos! We’ve suggested text you could use, but if you personalise your message it is likely to be more effective.

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Dear Sir Tom McKillop, Climate change is perhaps the single biggest threat facing humanity. As a major financial institution, RBS is a key actor in taking the steps needed to save the planet. One of the key areas of emissions that needs to be cut is that from energy production, primarily oil and gas. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the positive impact of the $2 billion RBS have provided for renewable energy sources. However by continuing to finance fossil fuels, RBS is perpetuating a system that is driving us further and further towards a climate catastrophe. RBS is risking massive damage to its reputation and ignoring its climate responsibility. In 2007 RBS arranged a loan of US$4.9 billion to the energy company E.ON which plans to build Kingsnorth coal plant in Kent. The effects of this project were described by James E. Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University Earth Institute, as "a tipping point for the world". Over successive years, RBS has financed OptiCanada's Long Lake project as part of the Athabsaca Tar Sands development to the tune of US$800 million. The Athabasca Tar Sands project has so far destroyed an area of ancient forest (a natural carbon storehouse) larger than England and currently pumps 27 million tonnes of greenhouse gases into the air every year. As an expert in the field of energy financing, RBS could be leading the way in financing new sources of renewable, low-carbon and decentralised energy, thereby making a huge leap forward in the fight to avert climate chaos. That is why I call on RBS to take the following steps: - calculate and publish the embedded emissions resulting from loans to oil and gas projects. - cap embedded emissions and set annual targets for reductions. - commit to an irreversible transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy lending. - establish 'no-go' areas for lending: immediately halt loans to unconventional fossil fuels (e.g. tar sands) and which affect sensitive ecosystems such as rainforests. If there is no commitment to take these steps by RBS' 2009 AGM then I will boycott all RBS Group companies, including NatWest, Churchill Insurance, Direct Line and Ulster Bank, and encourage my friends and peers to do likewise. Please inform me of the steps you are taking to ensure that RBS lives up to its climate responsibility.

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(1) RBS gave a 4.9 billion US dollar loan to E-on the company behind the controversial proposal of the new coal power station at Kingsnorth in Kent