Royal Bank of Scotland’s chairman, Sir Tom McKillop, claimed this week that an attempt by environmental activists to hold it responsible for the carbon emissions of oil and gas projects which it finances was “deeply, deeply flawed,” The Herald reports.
London-based Platform claimed in a recent report backed by Friends of the Earth Scotland that Royal was responsible for carbon emissions greater than those of all of Scotland. In 2005, the report claimed the bank was responsible for about 37 million tonnes of carbon emissions, more than one hundred times the level the bank had reported for that year.
McKillop said the report implied “banks should be responsible for the carbon footprints of everyone they lend to.”
He added: “That would mean banks would be responsible pretty much for the carbon emissions of the world.”
“It is just completely flawed,” he claimed, saying that the argument could be extended to take in the impact of households’ carbon emissions if Royal provided a mortgage, or the environmental impact of cars if it had provided a car loan.