TORONTO –
Canada’s Big Six banks have together announced that they will join the Net-Zero Banking Alliance ahead of the UN climate summit set to start in Glasgow at the end of the month.
The global alliance commits members to aligning their lending and investment portfolios with net-zero emissions by 2050, as well as to setting intermediate targets for 2030 or sooner.
The industry-led alliance is the banking component of the wider Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, chaired by UN special envoy and former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
Carney said in a statement that by joining the alliance, the Canadian banks are “bringing their deep expertise and strong balance sheets to drive solutions for the sustainable economy.”
Most of Canada’s big banks have already made separate pledges over the past year to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, but the alliance says that it provides an internationally coherent framework and guidelines for all banks to follow.
Vancouver City Savings Credit Union and HSBC were the only banks operating in Canada to sign on to the alliance when it was first announced in April.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2021
