The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has surpassed the United States' JP Morgan Chase as the largest global investor in fossil fuel projects for the first time since 2019.
The Canadian bank invested $42.1bn (£33.7bn) in fossil fuel projects in 2022, according to the 'Banking on Climate Chaos' report commissioned by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).
The investment included $7.4bn (£5.9bn) for fracking projects and $4.8bn (£3.8bn) for the excavation of tar sands deposits, the report said.
The report found that RBC had invested a total of $253bn (£202bn) since 2016. Canadian banks have provided fossil fuel companies with $862bn (£689bn) in funding, with the RAN identifying them as “the banks of last resort” for fossil fuels.
Since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the world’s 60 largest banks have provided over $5.5tn (£4.4tn) in funding for fossil fuel projects, the report shows. In 2022 alone, the top 60 banks invested $673bn (£538bn) into...