Canada’s financial sector is fueling the climate crisis and undermining opportunities to transition to a low-carbon economy. Canada’s big banks are all among the top 20 fossil fuel funders in the world, with RBC taking the title of top oil and gas financier in 2022. Despite claims to take the climate crisis and Indigenous sovereignty seriously, Canada’s financial institutions continue to push us further away from reconciliation, supporting projects without free, prior and informed consent that violate Indigenous rights, and refusing to take accountability.
Financial institutions cannot be trusted to take the right actions themselves, which is why we hope parents, grandparents and allies will ask our government to create stronger rules. Senator Rosa Galvez has tabled Bill S-243 – the Climate-Aligned Finance Act in the Senate. This act would:
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ensure Canada’s banks develop credible plans in line with climate science and commitments
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address conflicts of interest between financial institutions and the fossil fuel industry
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help us avoid carbon lock-in and enshrine respect for Indigenous peoples.
The Banking For Our Kids campaign believes that this legislation would be a huge first step to bring Canada’s financial sector in line with climate science, mitigate growing risks to our financial system, and start pushing for an orderly transition to a low-carbon economy.
What’s happening with the Climate-Aligned Finance Act (CAFA)?
CAFA was introduced in the Canadian Senate last year. In early June 2023, it was moved forward to the Senate committee who are tasked with studying the bill. Since then, the progress of CAFA has stalled, and we need to pressure Senators to urgently study this bill and move it forward.
What can we do?
We can tell Senators to push this bill forward for a study and support it. MPs can also be encouraged to introduce or support climate-aligned financial policy through the House of Commons and show their party understands the need for a financial system that is safe for the climate. In theory, there could be climate finance bills in both the Senate and House simultaneously. In fact, this would be a great way to create pressure from all sides to tackle this urgent issue.
How do we do it?
Reach out to Senators and your local MP to stress the importance of climate-aligned financial policy.
You can make a call, send an email, ask for a meeting to discuss your concerns, or all of the above!
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Call a Senator to support the Climate-Aligned Finance Act! Use this contact info + script to tell Senators in the BANC Committee we need a proper study of CAFA now.
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Talk to your MP about the need for strong climate-aligned financial policy. Find your MP here. Give them a call with this script, OR send a draft email to set up a meeting and use this agenda with key talking points. Feel free to reach out to [email protected] if you want support preparing for the meeting.
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Share this toolkit with your For Our Kids team and/or your wider network! We encourage you to have meetings with Senators as a team or in groups to show strength in numbers. The more people who push for this, the likelier they are to act on it.
- If you want to learn more about fixing finance for climate change, you can also sign up here to learn from Environmental Defence about climate and sustainable finance - and stay in the loop about actions to encourage the government to align our financial systems with a safe climate.
