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Blaming banks for client pollution 'preposterous'

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"Are we really saying that banks should take on the entire carbon footprint of the world? Sir Tom McKILLOP"
Published Date:
11 July 2007
BUSINESS EDITOR
SIR TOM McKILLOP, chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, has described as "preposterous" claims that banks should be held responsible for the "carbon footprint" of firms they lend to.
His biting response came as the Edinburgh-headquartered bank highlighted its role in financing the renewable energies sector in its latest Corporate Social Responsibility report.

Over the last year, RBS has pumped £1.3 billion into sustainable energy projects, including wind farms - a sum roughly equivalent to the funding it supplied to the traditional energy sector.

Other major global banks such as Citigroup, Bank of America and HSBC have also recently been highlighting their commitment to green energy - but RBS is claiming the lead in financing such projects.

RBS has been on the receiving end of attacks that say the bank's lending to the oil and gas sector is leading to environmental damage.

London-based "social and ecological justice" campaigners Platform issued a recent report claiming RBS's lending to the carbon-based energy sector made it "responsible" for more greenhouse gas pollution than the whole of Scotland combined.

It claimed that the bank was responsible for around 37 million tonnes of carbon emissions in 2005, upwards of a 100 times more than the previous year.

In RBS' first response to the report, Sir Tom said it amounted to "bad science" and was "counter-productive".

In an interview, Sir Tom said: "Are we really saying that banks should take on the entire carbon footprint of the world? It's preposterous."

Sir Tom - the former chief executive of drugs giant AstraZeneca - underlined his bank's commitment to tackling climate change, acknowledging the threat posed by greenhouse gases was "real".

"I think it is real. The overwhelming consensus of scientists - of course they could be wrong, because there is always uncertainty in science - but the overwhelming consensus of academies around the world is that this is real and we should take action to minimise any impact."

According to Sir Tom, if the Platform report was to be taken at face value then the implication could assume ridiculous pro- portions.

He said it could then be claimed that banks would be responsible for the carbon footprint of all the cars and homes that they had lent money to finance the purchase or building of.

"It is just completely flawed," Sir Tom said.

Elsewhere in its report, RBS - which is currently battling to pull off the world's biggest banking takeover with its £48bn for Dutch bank ABN Amro - said it lent a record £677m last year to small businesses and social enterprise projects.

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  • Last Updated: 11 July 2007 10:04 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Royal Bank of Scotland
 
1

Andra, Dundee,

11/07/2007 12:41:26

So it is preposterous to make them responsible for high emission borrowers but they claim the credit for sustainable projects. They need to make their minds up - or else face accusations of hypocrisy.

2

Bobby M,

London 11/07/2007 12:51:52

Andra -

RBS is not taking credit for the carbon reductions created by investing in the renewables sector; they are merely pointing out that they loaned a whopping amount to support these new industries. This is not hypocritical at all. Did you read the article?

3

Mika Minio-Paluello,

London 11/07/2007 13:54:19

Actually, RBS are claiming that they are taking action on climate change by financing renewables. But they deny that their loans to fossil fuels are relevant. Smacks of hypocrisy to me.

Also, it seems that it’s Tom McKillop who didn’t read our report on RBS (www.carbonweb.org/rbs), or he’s intentionally distorting it. Of course the report does not argue that RBS is responsible for the entire carbon footprint of the company or project financed. Instead, it allocates emissions to RBS corresponding to the proportion of the project financed by RBS. If you own 20% of a company, then you should probably accept 20% of its emissions. It’s the same argument.

It’s interesting to see McKillop accusing us of “bad science” – given that his PR team tried to undermine us in March by resorting to a bit of opportunistic climate denial, claiming that there was still debate over the causes of climate change in the Sunday Herald.

At least our report (which he describes as unhelpful) has pushed RBS to recognise that climate change is a serious threat. If only they’d start to act without us needing to pressure them…

4

MarkB,

USA 11/07/2007 15:46:29

So who is responsible for the massive use of electricity - and the resulting carbon output - of the servers used as the backbone of the Internet? Could it be the consumers who sit at their computers tapping out outrage about global warming?
If you care about the planet, turn off your computer and drop your internet access.

5

IT bod,

11/07/2007 16:00:05

I've got loads of computers here.

Seriously, loads.


Can't switch them off though........sorry!

6

Firozali A.Mulla MBA PhD,

Dar-Es-Salaam Tanzania 11/07/2007 17:55:02

"It is just completely flawed," Sir Tom said.

Blaming banks for client pollution 'preposterous'

Sir; I agree with you. In Tanzania we have the bank statements from the old years that the are used to pack the bread and pea nuts. I agree with you. I mean why blame the bank for anything. They are intersted in interst. I mean we have banks charging interes on saving bank accounts also.
I just found my bank satatement of 1975 and I know the bread then was shs 1.
I swooned. The price of the bread now is 450.00 tz shs.
Beleive me. I dont blame you. You are the Messiah from the Ten Commandements. You are in fact telling us how to keep the money in your bank call the Enron or the audit firms to cook up the books show the deficit, open new branches, and tell us LOOK WE HAVE NO CASH AT THE MOMENT we do not keep coins. You know this 9/11. Well we had it.

7

Bobby M,

London 11/07/2007 22:02:41

Mika

still don't get your point. If i lend my friend a grand so he can get a 5 grand car, am i responsible for 20% of its emissions? i don't own or drive the car and he's paying me back the money, so is it my carbon footprint or his?

also, there is still a huge debate on climate change , as with pretty much every aspect of science. Even the IPCC stated they were only about 90% certain. For the record, i'm a believer, but i'm not too closed minded to accept the jury is not quite unanimous just yet.

Lastly, RBS has done it's own carbon footprinting and environmental reporting for years, and published the results annually long before Platform came along. Don't take credit for other peoples work - it makes you look cheap.


 

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