RBS
This brand is rated based on NatWest
Your bank is failing on climate responsibility.
RBS is owned by Natwest and consequently has the same rating as Natwest. This is because Natwest can freely transfer and use RBS' cash as if it were Natwest's own.
NatWest continues to finance fossil fuel companies that are driving climate change. It has inadequate policies in place to stop it financing fossil fuel expanders.
Its ratio of funding renewable energy projects vs fossil fuels is very good, and its fossil fuel financing is much smaller than others such as Barclays, but it must do more to end finance to fossil fuel companies not aligned to the 1.5C degree global target.
NatWest has an opportunity to show leadership and we hope to see further improvement.
Last reviewed:
While you’ve been saving money for a home or a weekend get-away, your bank has likely been using your savings to lend to some very questionable fossil fuel friends.
Banks like this one have demonstrated that they're not interested in fighting in the climate crisis. While banks don't publish all of their lending information, we can see that this bank has positioned itself well to fund fossil fuels. We can also see its lack of interest in doing climate-positive things like measuring and disclosing its total emissions or stating that it doesn't fund fossil fuels. We've therefore given it our lowest rating.
Your bank may be ignoring the Paris Agreement.
The Paris Agreement set the goal to stay under 1.5°C of warming for very good reasons. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an increase of just a couple of degrees more could lead to "substantial species extinction, large risks to global and regional food security", and an inability to work outside — or even live — in some areas of the world. Our world will become unrecognizable as ocean dead zones, floods, and extreme weather fuel social and economic disruption.
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