RBC Green Bonds May Be Used to Finance Oil Firm Carbon Cuts

Royal Bank of Canada may make loans to oil and gas companies seeking to reduce their environmental impact under its recently created green bond program.

The country’s largest bank isn’t excluding fuel companies, said Lindsay Patrick, RBC’s head of sustainable financing. The loans to oil and gas firms could go to projects such as carbon-capture infrastructure.

Oil and gas firms “aren’t specifically excluded in our framework,” said Patrick, although most of the lender’s green bond funding will go to renewable power and green buildings.

Having a functioning green debt market not only for activities typically identified as green, but also ...