RBS Still Mired In Tar Sands

Last Summer we had a rather public row with RBS over its role in bankrolling fossil fuel expansion. Since then, the Bank’s PR team has been working overtime to clear the bank’s name — even releasing a 10-page report dedicated to the topic. Trouble is, its bankers continue to close lucrative deals in the tar [...]

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Greenwash Alert: Royal Bank of Scotland’s Coal Financing and Climate Week

Our good friends and allies at Platform, a London-based research group, released a new report earlier this week outlining the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) extensive investments in the coal industry. Ironically, the day of release also marked the first day of the RBS-sponsored Climate Week in the UK. Platform is using RBS’s involvement in [...]

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Decoding RBS Greenwash

As 500 climate activists set up camp at RBS Global Headquarters in Edinburgh last week, the bank tried and failed to play the victim.  Despite the bank’s assertions to the press, we showed that the bank is not a top funder of renewable energy (according to Bloomberg), and never offered to meet with protest leaders [...]

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Royal BS

Hundreds of climate activists set up camp this morning next to the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in Edinburgh. Since an October 2008 bailout, taxpayers have owned more than 80% of the bank. But Downing Street won’t enforce basic environmental standards at RBS so Climate Camp is taking direct action. The camp [...]

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Royal Bank of Scotland Under Siege This Summer

Check out this great new flick from our friends at Climate Camp UK. This year, they take on Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)- among the world’s top financiers of fossil fuels. The Climate Camp crew doesn’t mess around; previous camps successfully shut down the third runway at Heathrow and Kingsnorth power station in Kent. Visit [...]

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Royal Bank of Scotland Dodges Questions on Indigenous Rights

On April 28th in Edinburgh, Scotland the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) held their Annual General Meeting where shareholders met to discuss the future of RBS.  RBS was one of the UK banks bailed-out by the UK government in 2008, and now RBS is 83% owned by the UK public. Between 2007 and 2009, RBS [...]

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Cleaning up The Other Royal Bank

We’ve been going after the Royal Bank of Canada for bankrolling the tar sands for some time now. Today, we went after the other Royal Bank–the Royal Bank of Scotland–with our friends across the pond. RBS ranks 7th globally among banks backing tar sands operators, but first in the UK where taxpayers now own more [...]

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Banks Ranked and Spanked on Tar Sands

As an ode to the  “rank ‘em and spank ‘em” strategy coined by our outgoing Executive Director Mike Brune, we proudly present the following roster of international banks backing expansion in the tar sands. The table below is based on credit extended underwritten by each bank to companies operating in the tar sands since 2007 [...]

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