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A Bank for the Future: Maximising public investment in a low-carbon economy
The recent financial crisis cost the UK £129 billion in annual GDP and increased the structural deficit by £93 billion. The initial budget cuts announced by the coalition government demonstrate the pain this is causing to public services. The UK can’t afford another meltdown, yet short term, high risk, carbon intensive investments are still business…
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Should RBS get credit for going green?
CLIMATE change protesters are threatening direct action protests against the Royal Bank of Scotland over dealings with the oil industry. They say the bank invests more in the fossil fuel industry than any other in the UK and claim this is damaging the planet. The Government-owned bank, however, prides itself on its environmental record. The…
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Taxpayers’ money involved in financing controversial tar sands companies
New report exposes RBS involvement in Canada’s “blood oil” Bank executives meet in Toronto and discuss concerns about public backlash over involvement in tar sands Environmental and development groups announce a week of protest around the RBS AGM in April over the bank’s tar sands investments It’s been revealed that RBS have been involved in…
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Cashing in on Tar Sands: RBS, UK banks and Canada’s “blood oil”
Tar sands extraction in Canada is devastating Indigenous communities, wildlife and vast areas of boreal forests, as well as being many times more carbon-intensive to produce than ‘conventional’ oil. The higher oil prices in recent years have meant that it’s become a more attractive prospect for oil companies to expand their operations in the costly…
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New legal action over latest RBS bail out
Last November’s £25 billion cash injection deemed ‘unlawful’ by campaigners Treasury’s intervention in bankers’ bonuses strengthens campaigners case Three pressure groups today served the Treasury with their application to the High Court, challenging last November’s decision to provide a further £25 billion of public money to the Royal Bank of Scotland. According to the Treasury’s…
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Royal Bank of Sustainability?
At the end of 2008, UK taxpayers became majority owners of the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of Britain’s largest banks. So, since we’ve paid for it, shouldn’t we have some say in how it is run? Kevin Smith, from the campaigning organisation Platform, puts the case – https://www.redpepper.org.uk/Royal-Bank-of-Sustainability/. In the year since it was…
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RBS – publicly owned for one year: where’s our money gone?
A year ago, the British public became the majority shareholder in the Royal Bank of Scotland and to make this inauspicious anniversary, this weekend 40 leading figures including environmental and anti poverty campaigners, faith groups, trade unions, academia, MPs and the author Iain Banks have written to Alistair Darling to call on him to transform RBS into…
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High Court decision: Treasury can ignore climate change and human rights in RBS’ investments
A High Court judge today blocked a request for permission to hold a Judicial Review over what campaigners say is the Treasury’s lack of adequate environmental and human rights consideration of Royal Bank of Scotland’s investments. Campaigners from the World Development Movement, PLATFORM and People & Planet, who brought the case against the Treasury expressed…
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Towards a Royal Bank of Sustainability: protecting taxpayers’ interests; cutting carbon risk
This report has been commissioned by People & Planet, World Development Movement, Platform, Friends of the Earth Scotland, and BankTrack to investigate whether and how the Government should align its recent investment in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) with social and environmental objectives, in particular to combat climate change. Although many of its recommendations…
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Unprecedented legal battle over RBS’ unethical investments
Today, an unprecedented legal battle will take place in the High Court over the Treasury’s failure to stop the publicly owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) investing in what campaigners describe as ‘some of the most environmentally damaging and socially irresponsible projects and companies around.’ The case is being brought by three small climate and…