Royal Bank reaches deal with New York City pensions to disclose clean energy funding

financialpost.com:

New York City retirement plans reached an agreement with Royal Bank of Canada for the lender to disclose how much financing it provides for clean-energy projects relative to fossil fuels.

Canada’s largest bank is the third financial giant to agree to begin disclosing the ratio after New York Comptroller Brad Lander and the city’s public-pension boards filed shareholder resolutions with six banks in January. The proposal was set to be voted upon at Toronto-based Royal Bank’s annual meeting next week.

“We’re thrilled that they’ve adopted it,” Lander said in an interview Wednesday. “We expect this will become a standard part of what banks disclose and we hope the others will follow suit promptly.”

Royal Bank plans to report a clean-energy supply financing ratio in its 2024 climate report — a disclosure that “aligns to our strategic objectives.” Jennifer Livingstone, Royal Bank’s vice-president of climate, said in an emailed statement.

“Transparency and advanced disclosures on climate performance are critical to showing the progress we are making,” she said. “We appreciate the constructive dialogue that we have had” with Lander’s office “and plan to engage with them and industry partners in developing the ratio.”

The agreement with Royal Bank follows similar pacts with New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., which both agreed to the disclosures last month. Val Smith, Citigroup’s chief sustainability officer, said in a separate statement that the bank plans to include the metric as an addition to other disclosures provided in its climate reporting.

Lander’s office still has outstanding resolutions filed with Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, it said.

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