Large inflatable of the CEO of RBC, David McKay with money in his pockets, various Big Oil logos adorning his outfit, and fire at his feet with the hands of climate strikers holding signs. There are also signs taped onto the inflatable that read "Big

Banks Off Campus

Canada’s Big Five banks continue to fund the fossil fuel industry – collectively, RBC, Scotiabank, TD, BMO, and CIBC funded over $1 trillion in 2023, but the biggest Bank culprit is RBC. From 2016-2021, RBC financed:

  • $263 billion in fossil fuels.

  • $50 billion in fossil fuel expansion projects

  • $27 billion in tar sands financing (lead financier alongside TD bank)

Despite past claims about working with its clients to respect Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) by Indigenous Peoples, RBC is financing projects opposed by Indigenous Nations with territorial jurisdiction, including Line 3 and Coastal Gas Link pipelines.

In 2022, we celebrated the end of the AMS’s eHub contract with RBC, but there is much more work to be done. Therefore, we call on the UBC AMS to:

  1. Issue a statement condemning RBC’s lending to fossil fuel projects, including the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline and Trans Mountain Pipeline.

  2. Pass a formal resolution in council committing the Society to to not renew the lease for RBC On Campus upon its expiry in March 2024.

  3. Produce a public report for review by Council investigating options for moving banking and investment accounts to a financial institution with a fossil free lending policy.

Fossil Free Research

We are holding UBC accountable to follow through on the commitment to divest while advocating for UBC to go beyond divestment and dissociate from the fossil fuel industry.

Our Complicity in the Climate Emergency report shows the pervasive influence of the fossil fuel industry on UBC research and student career paths, maintaining our dependence on fossil fuels and preventing us from moving toward a just transition. Key findings from the report:

  • 7 out of every 50 donors is connected to the fossil fuel industry

  • 27 student awards are funded by the fossil fuel industry, most of them affiliated with the Sauder School of Business

  • Fossil fuel funded research produces technology to optimize oil and gas extraction and boosts the industry’s public image through affiliations with environmentally-conscious research

  • UBC has a strong relationship with Teck Resources

  • UBC Pipeline Integrity Institute offers specialized training, industry connections, and awards in pipeline engineering

Logo for the "Towards a Peoples Endowment" campaign, which consists of two multicoloured hands placed horizontally to each other. They hold space for community connection and represent reinvestment.

Towards a People’s Endowment

In the summer of 2021, CJUBC, SFU350, and Divest UVic started the Towards a Peoples Endowment Campaign.

After eight long years of organizing by the students of CJUBC, SFU350 and Divest UVic, all of our universities have now either committed to full divestment or mostly completed divestment. But as we’ve looked at our universities’ investment portfolios, we’ve realized divestment is not enough to bring us to the just and sustainable future we want and need. Fossil-free funds are loaded with banks that lend trillions to fossil fuels, tech companies like Amazon that have been called out for reports of abusive working conditions and tax avoidance, and mining companies that have been linked to murders and assault of land defenders around the world. 

This campaign calls on our universities to move 10% of their respective endowments and working capital funds — totaling more than $500 million — into community investments to support a vibrant and sustainable local economy.