Welcome to the 2022 RBC Annual Meeting of Common Shareholders. Tansi. Hello, I'm Annette Sabourin, Dene Cree from Northern Manitoba, and I am the Regional Vice President for Vancouver Island in the beautiful British Columbia region that is home to 204 distinct Indigenous nations. I acknowledge the land I'm situated on is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of Lekwungen peoples, the Songhees, Esquimalt, and WSÁNEĆ, whose historical relationships with the land continue this day. As we all come together remotely from coast to coast to coast, may we all honor the Indigenous territories we are on and recognize that Indigenous peoples are the stewards and guardian of the land.
Therefore, before we start this meeting, I would like to reflect on the importance of acknowledging the land and the unique sacred connection that Indigenous people have to the land, a nurtured respect that encompasses the relationship with all living things. Here at RBC, we acknowledge that we are settlers in the spaces we work, play, and live in. For more than 25 years, RBC has been committed to the reconciliation journey and prosperity and inclusion for Indigenous peoples through our commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action number 92. We know the decisions we make today in creating a world of mutual respect, sustainability, and shared values has a direct impact not only on our generation but for the generations to come. My ask of all of you is to learn more about the proud journey taken by Indigenous people.
Seek out new storytellers to revisit the past, ask difficult questions, and learn from the legacy of the mistakes from our shared past and the lessons we are now all seeking out a path for a better tomorrow. Let us together with Indigenous people tell a new story, a story of truth, understanding, and respect. After all, history belongs to the children. Hi hi. Merci. Thank you. It is now my pleasure to welcome and introduce Kathleen Taylor, Chair of the Board of the Royal Bank of Canada.
Thank you very much, Annette, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. [Foreign language: Mesdames et messieurs.] Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the Annual Assembly of Common Shareholders. Annual Meeting of Common Shareholders. I'm Kathleen Taylor, and I have the privilege of being Chair of the Board of Royal Bank of Canada. As notice has been duly given and a quorum is present, I call the meeting to order. After two years of meeting virtually, we intended to hold our annual meeting of shareholders in person as well as via live webcast online.
Unfortunately, we had to quickly move to a virtual-only format. This change resulted from confirmation of a positive COVID-19 case, which has impacted a number of annual meeting staff members and participants. Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have prioritized the health and well-being of our employees, clients, shareholders, and communities, and we remain steadfast in this commitment. That said, I am glad we are still able to connect with all of you virtually this morning. Thank you for joining us. As always, the meeting will be conducted in English and in French. Conducted in English and in French. Karen, could you please explain how participants may select the language of their choice?
Good morning. If you're using the Lumi web platform, you can select either English or French to listen to the webcast. If you wish to change languages, click on the language button shown on the right side of the platform. If you are listening by telephone and wish to change languages, you must dial up and dial back in using the phone number which corresponds to the language of your choice, as indicated on our website and on page 11 of the circular.
Thank you, Karen. This morning, I'm accompanied on stage by Dave McKay, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Karen McCarthy, Senior Vice President, Associate General Counsel, and Secretary. I will act as Chair of the meeting, and Karen will be our secretary. Pina Pacifico and Kate Stevens, officers of our transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, will be our scrutineers. Also joining us remotely, our directors and members of senior management. As always, we welcome questions and comments from shareholders and proxy holders. You can submit your questions via the Lumi platform. Participants attending via telephone are in listen-only mode and are not able to ask questions. I'll now ask Karen to outline the rules of conduct for the meeting and explain how to ask questions. Karen?
Shareholders and proxy holders may submit questions in both English or in French. If you wish to submit a question in writing, select the messaging icon at the top of your screen. Type your full name, whether you are a shareholder or proxy holder, the control number listed on your form of proxy or voting instruction form, and your question in the Ask a Question box at the bottom of the messaging screen. Then click the Send button. We will read your question at the appropriate time.
If you wish to ask a question via live audio, type your phone number, your full name, whether you are a shareholder or a proxy holder, and the control number listed on your form of proxy or voting instruction form in the Ask a Question box at the bottom of the messaging screen. Please also include the general subject matter of your question if it relates to one of the matters of business in order for you to ask your question at the appropriate time during the meeting, then click on the Send button. A Lumi representative will dial you into the meeting. Once you answer the call, you will hear the meeting from your phone. Please mute your computer and listen to the live feed on your phone only. This will prevent any delay or feedback. When called upon to ask your question, you'll be automatically unmuted.
In order to give all shareholders or proxy holders the opportunity to participate and ask questions, please only ask one question at a time and then speak for no more than three minutes. We encourage you to submit your questions as early as possible so that we may address them at the right moment during the meeting. Written questions on the same topic or theme may be grouped, summarized, and addressed at the same time. For information on how this meeting will be conducted, please refer to the rules of conduct, which are available on our website and on the Lumi platform.
Thank you, Karen. After my introductory remarks, we will hear from Dave McKay, our President and Chief Executive Officer, followed by the matters of business, including the election of directors and the appointment of our auditor. Shareholders will also be asked to approve a non-binding advisory resolution on our approach to executive compensation. We will then consider the shareholder proposals and deal with any other business, and we will conclude our meeting with a question period. Please take a moment to review the caution regarding forward-looking statements provided on your screen. This caution can also be found on the inside front cover of our proxy circular. At this meeting, we may make forward-looking statements which involve certain assumptions and have inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ from these statements.
I want to start my formal remarks this morning by expressing our deep and profound sorrow for the people of Ukraine. Their suffering is immense, senseless, and heartbreaking. [Foreign language: J'aimerais tout d'abord faire part.] First, I would like to express our deep and profound sorrow for the people of Ukraine who have been suffering.
Not only tragic, but it also adds to the complexity and rapid change happening all around us, from the pandemic to geopolitical dynamics to our warming planet. For RBC, it's never been enough to keep pace with the opportunities and challenges that emerge from disruptive forces. As Dave will note in his remarks, the bank also pursues new and meaningful ways to help clients thrive and communities prosper. In short, RBC grows purposefully by focusing on what matters most to those we serve, both today and over the long term. That's why the health, safety, and mental well-being of RBC's 87,000 colleagues remained a key priority for the bank in 2021. It's also why additional resources were provided to help RBCers adapt and thrive in the rapidly evolving world of work. My gratitude goes out to every employee who never lost focus on serving others.
In addition to an unwavering support for clients, RBC continued to build more inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous communities. In 2021, RBC's multi-stakeholder approach contributed to the bank's strong performance. Earnings of CAD 16.1 billion represent an increase of CAD 4.6 billion or 40% from the prior year. The earning power of RBC across all of its business lines also signals a successful calibration between management's strategic plans and risk appetite, two key priorities for the board. As always, in 2021, the board engaged with management on all business segments, and in some cases, subsets of these business segments to ensure plans were carefully developed, appropriately balancing strategic opportunities with risk discipline. Culture and conduct are an important part of this equation as well because they underpin how employee actions align to RBC's purpose, values, and growth strategy.
Directors oversee the tone from the top, and along with management, ensure bank values are embedded into RBC's strategy and commitments. A key focus for the board last year was to provide oversight of the bank's climate strategy to transition to a net zero world. [Foreign language] L'une des principales objectifs du conseil.
One of the main objectives of the board last year was to ensure that we monitor RBC Climate Blueprint in order to accelerate the net zero transition.
The devastating consequences of our warming planet on society, the economy, ecosystems, and the plants and animals that live in them are well understood. A global consensus to tackle climate change has taken root. Canada has signed on to an international agreement to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, and RBC is actively aligning its net zero targets to support our national ambitions. RBC's plan will support clients in their own net zero journey and will ensure the bank is publicly accountable for its actions, including the disclosure of financed emissions and reduction goals in key sectors. RBC will also continue to contribute meaningfully to how governments, business, and consumers can move forward in a coordinated way.
The board is actively engaged with management on the direction of RBC's climate strategy so that the risks and opportunities are reviewed and understood. This includes an assessment of the measurements and milestones necessary to gauge our progress in the years ahead. We also make sure the interests of the bank's stakeholders, including our shareholders, are considered. Another core responsibility of the board centers on talent. Directors regularly meet with and assess the capabilities and leadership of RBC's top talent. Obviously, the pandemic has required us to add virtual sessions into the mix. Yet all engagements have proved valuable in fostering meaningful discussions between board members and bank executives.
These efforts have helped contribute to a seamless succession of the bank's new chief financial officer, the appointment of a chief legal officer reporting to the CEO, as well as the assumption of responsibilities for RBC Ventures by the group head, Personal and Commercial Banking. More broadly, in terms of advancing the diversity and inclusion agenda at RBC, it's critical the board and management move in lockstep. To this end, we work closely with management to set the right aspirational targets and make sure the right measurements are in place. In all of this, the board maintains an open and coordinated approach with management. For the board's part, last year's appointment of Roberta Jamieson as an RBC director underscores the inherent value in bringing more voices from different backgrounds to our table.
I'm proud to say that 40% of board members are women, and 23% are indigenous and people of color. In the second year of the global pandemic, and against a backdrop of significant change, RBC stayed focused on what matters most to those we serve. By doing so, RBC once again demonstrated the inextricable link between its purpose and performance. Also, in the second year of the global pandemic, RBC stayed focused on what matters most to those we serve. RBC once again demonstrated the inextricable link between its purpose and performance. Indeed, that's the hallmark of the bank's history and the foundation of its future. The board believes the strong momentum generated last year and the differentiated strategy that guides RBC will continue to deliver value for its stakeholders, including shareholders, over the near and long term.
On behalf of my fellow directors, I want to convey our continued support for Dave McKay and his executive team and express our ongoing appreciation to each and every RBCer who demonstrates the bank's purpose and values through their everyday actions. I also want to thank our directors for their invaluable contributions and, of course, our shareholders who continue to show their confidence in the bank's growth strategy and the important contributions it makes in helping clients thrive and communities prosper. Thank you very much, and I'm now going to turn our session over to Dave McKay to provide his remarks to shareholders. Dave?
Thank you, Katie, and good morning to all of you joining us virtually. We certainly hope today's event would be in person and part of what has been an encouraging return to some familiar patterns of life, reconnecting with friends, colleagues, and clients. Yet, our pivot to virtual is another reminder that so many people continue to experience significant challenges and disruption due to COVID. Shockingly, over the past number of weeks, we've witnessed a new crisis of global consequence, the baseless war in Ukraine. Like so many government and business leaders around the world, I condemn Russia's invasion. I'm deeply concerned about the threat this presents to global peace and stability and humanitarian impact in the region and beyond. RBC moved quickly by donating CAD 1 million to support humanitarian efforts as well as the refugee crisis.
Like all of you, my thoughts are with everyone affected and will continue to consider ways to help those in need. It's clear we're living in a world where momentous change and disruption have created a new set of complex challenges for society, economies, and businesses to manage. This includes geopolitical tensions, rapid inflation, energy shortages, global supply chain issues, and a virus that's not yet eradicated. Over the past two years, we all came to know what it was like to not be able to see beyond tomorrow, to not know what lay around the corner. In the face of these dynamics, the world will be shaped by those with a clarity of purpose and a conviction to both act today and prepare for tomorrow. RBC is guided by our purpose, helping clients thrive and communities prosper.
Our purpose defines not only who we are, but also how we compete, grow, and build a more sustainable future. With our purpose as our North Star, even in the face of change, we see great opportunities for RBC and a promising path forward. I am confident because of our scale and financial strength, and also because of the combined strength of our people and culture, our outstanding client base, our industry-leading technology, and our prestigious brand.
That is what has allowed us to grow for over 150 years, and is how we will continue to adapt to accelerating change, from changing customer needs and new challenges in the digital world to cyber threats and geopolitical risks. We manage short-term challenges while keeping our focus on our long-term goals of delivering more value to our customers, employees, shareholders, and communities. This is also how we address broader societal issues, such as climate transition and economic inclusion. True to our story, RBC is committed to playing a leading role in helping to accelerate the pace of change. Looking ahead, I am optimistic that we can build a stronger Canada for the end of this decade and beyond. A country with a thriving economy in a troubled world, with stronger and more inclusive communities. A country that also contributes to a healthier planet.
To get to the next decade and beyond, we will need new rules of the game, stronger public-private partnerships, a greater capacity to invest in the future, and the patience to plan and execute strategies with a long-term focus. Before I talk about the future, I would like to talk about the past year and the foundation of our success that keeps our bank moving forward.
Looking back on 2021, I'm most proud of how our 87,000 employees led RBC through continued change, stepping up for clients and communities while supporting each other. Despite a work environment challenged by lockdowns, RBC's empathy, care, and commitment to those we serve only grew and was the most powerful reflection of our purpose. Nowhere was this truer than RBC's annual employee giving campaign, where our employees raised CAD 23 million for over 5,000 charities. I'm so incredibly proud of how our employees contribute to their communities and society more broadly. This is a key ingredient to our employer brand, alongside our investments in career growth and development. This combination creates an exceptional employee experience and employee engagement that exceeds top global firms we benchmark ourselves against.
Importantly, it was their high levels of engagement and deep support for clients which drove RBC's outperformance in 2021 and gives us tremendous confidence in the future. Across Canadian banking, insurance, wealth management, including City National and Capital Markets, all our teams delivered differentiated advice and offerings. This earned RBC record client volumes and more new business than in prior years. In Canadian banking, for example, we added over CAD 35 billion in mortgages and CAD 22 billion in personal deposits in 2021. This led to market share gains in both these important client relationship products. Clients recognized our employees' efforts and ranked us number 1 in customer satisfaction as measured by J.D. Power. Strong client volumes and growing market share were consistent themes across many of our other businesses, and these results showcase the benefits from our significant investments in talent and technology.
RBC's performance also reflected an improving credit environment and a prudent approach to risk and cost management. All this helped translate into record financial performance in 2021. We earned net income of CAD 16.1 billion and earnings per share growth of 41% year-over-year. We delivered CAD 6.2 billion in dividends to shareholders and increased our quarterly dividend by 11% in Q4. Since announcing our normal course issuer bid in December 2021, we have actively resumed share buybacks in line with our commitment to drive long-term value for our shareholders. Overall, we met all our medium-term financial objectives, including earnings per share growth, and we outperformed our global peer group on total shareholder returns over the three- and five-year periods. Moving to 2022, our underlying business momentum and robust client activity resulted in RBC delivering a very strong first quarter.
We earned CAD 4.1 billion, our second highest on record. Our capital position supported CAD 1.7 billion in dividends to our largely Canadian shareholder base, as well as almost 9 million of share repurchases. In aggregate, we returned nearly CAD 3 billion to our shareholders. I'm proud of the fact that Moody's upgraded our credit rating to Aa1, among the highest globally. Looking ahead, we see opportunities to further extend RBC's leadership position. Being client first is one of RBC's core values. It all starts with building deep, long-term relationships with our clients, putting them at the center of everything we do. This means anticipating their evolving needs, growing our relevancy to them, and providing a wider range of value-added services and experiences.
It's fundamentally about building our business from the client in, and we do this by leveraging the power of our size, operational and data scale, and strong balance sheet to deliver differentiated value today and also build for the future. This approach is the hallmark of how RBC has become the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization and a top bank globally. Let me share a few examples of how this comes to life. In Canadian banking, where we hold number one and number two market share in all key product categories, our strategy is to drive frictionless client experiences and deliver more value enabled by significant digital investments. For example, we created MyAdvisor, a free digital advice platform. Since its launch in 2017, close to 3 million clients have activated their personalized investment plans.
Another core tenet of being client first is rewarding clients for their relationship with us. Through RBC Vantage, for example, clients are now using their personal debit cards to earn RBC Reward Points for the first time. A unique and differentiated element of our strategy is building ecosystems that go beyond banking to enable RBC to participate in a client's life journey in a broader way. Through RBC Ventures, a startup incubator within the bank, we are creating solutions to meet a wider array of customer needs. We have 14 ventures in market from early stage to national scale-up that have attracted over 4 million new connections to RBC. Ownr is a great example. It's a digital platform that enables Canadian entrepreneurs to start, manage, and grow their businesses.
Ownr has launched more than 70,000 new Canadian businesses and driven close to 30,000 new RBC small business accounts since its inception. There's Mydoh, a digital app with a Smart Cash Card that helps kids learn and practice money management. This RBC venture has already reached 55,000 Canadian parents and children. In addition to building these new initiatives, we're also boldly moving ahead with other ventures that are looking to shape the future of e-commerce. While Canadian banking represents over half of our bank earnings, our client-first approach extends across our core businesses and defines the success of all our other market-leading franchises. In Canadian wealth management, we lead the market with a client-centric approach by delivering holistic wealth advice at scale, including wealth planning for families.
Through investments in technology, we equip our advisors with digital tools and data-driven insights for their clients and deliver an unmatched advisor experience. Our global asset management business is also a market leader and continues to enhance its product offerings for clients, including in the growing area of ESG while delivering leading investment performance. In capital markets, we have also continued to build our business around our clients and have now become the ninth-largest investment bank by fees globally. We build deep relationships with clients and provide global capabilities and an innovative approach to serving their complex and evolving needs. As one example, we were the first Canadian bank to set up a sustainable finance business, and today we are top advisor to businesses and governments in this important and growing sector.
We're continuing to invest by strengthening our talent in M&A and key verticals like technology and healthcare, which positions us to win key client mandates. Turning to City National Bank, our business has tripled over the past five years by focusing on the evolving needs of commercial and private banking clients and investing in technology and operational infrastructure, including mobile banking and treasury management platforms. City National has also launched and is rapidly expanding its mid-market commercial banking strategy, which has already generated $4 billion in loans. In U.S. wealth management, we have modernized our business by building and scaling new advisory and secured lending platforms while adding more products and talent to support clients and drive future growth. The combination of these two franchises, along with capital markets, provides a strong platform for continued growth in the U.S., our second home market.
With the strength of our capital position, we have significant financial flexibility to invest in organic growth, further share buybacks, and also explore acquisitions that align with our strategy and geographic footprint. Just last week, you saw us announce a deal to buy British wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin, which will make us a top three wealth manager in the U.K. These are just a few of the examples of the RBC way, how we anticipate, adapt, and build for the future through our client-led strategy. We bring the same approach to help tackle some of society's biggest issues and opportunities. While I remain optimistic about the economic recovery, the road ahead won't be without challenges, and we need to ensure any bumps along the way don't divert us from the journey towards a more sustainable future. Let's start with where we are.
The Canadian and global economies entered 2022 with strong economic activity and employment numbers. However, the invasion in Ukraine and inflation worries along with supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and rising interest rates have scaled back growth forecasts for this year and next. RBC Economics estimates there is CAD 310 billion in excess household savings and a further CAD 110 billion excess corporate savings in Canada. In the U.S., that number is $4.3 trillion. Those savings have the potential to be a catalyst for significant short and long-term economic growth. Also further inflation, including price trends in real estate that have been exacerbated by the lack of affordable housing. To productively manage this excess surplus, we need policies that encourage savings to flow into productive investments.
This will require a better approach to public-private collaboration because we know markets can't solve all these challenges on their own, nor can government. We need a plan that enables business and government to work together in ways that respect what each other does best. One that supports and celebrates risk-taking, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and a get-it-done attitude. Nowhere is this more important than addressing climate change. The Canadian government has laid out an ambitious plan for our country to quickly cut emissions aligned with the Paris Agreement. This plan will lead to a massive shift this decade in the cars we drive and the way we fuel our homes. It will push sectors, notably oil and gas, which accounts for roughly 10% of our national economy, to invest tens of billions CAD in new carbon capture technology.
It will require farmers to capture and cut emissions even as they expand production and export to meet growing global demand. This could be the story of Canada's decade, to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions while also selling lower emission products to the world. RBC's recent report, The $2 Trillion Transition, estimates we will need to mobilize CAD 80 billion a year, or about four times what we now invest in the climate transition to get there. To help create a more robust investment in climate for the net-zero economy, we will also need public and private capital to support both growth and the green transition. That's why investment and tax policies as well as incentives must be considered.
Now is the time to put excess capital to work and invest in the entrepreneurs and innovators who can develop technology, scale production, and sell those green solutions to the world. For our part, RBC is fully committed to supporting a net zero emissions economy by 2050. That's why we introduced our four-pillar climate strategy last October, which details the role RBC will play. First, we'll work closely with our clients on their net zero strategies by expanding our products, services, and client solutions, highlighted by our CAD 500 billion sustainable financing commitment. I'm encouraged that so many indigenous communities are helping lead this long-term transition. Taking up ownership positions in energy projects and pipelines, and adding traditional knowledge to ensure the transition is just and orderly.
Second, we're holding ourselves accountable to evolve our net zero business plan, disclose financed emissions, and publish emission reduction goals for clients in our oil and gas, power and utilities, and automotive and transportation portfolios, which we plan to do this fall. This work aligns with our commitment to net zero emissions in our lending by 2050. Third, we'll inform and inspire our communities to get to net zero. We'll do this by publishing research on climate issues and policies, championing climate literacy and awareness, and fostering climate innovation. This includes our pledge of CAD 100 million by 2025 through RBC Tech for Nature. This program supports universities and charities developing solutions to address climate change. Fourth, we've committed to reduce global emissions in our own operations by 70% by 2025.
This approach supports Canada's ambition to lead the world through a balanced energy transition. Which brings me to another key area of focus: people. Canada has a lot of advantages that make us a destination of choice for top talent. To meet Canada's broader growth agenda and respond to the climate challenge, we need to transform the way we learn and train Canadians on the skills and innovation required for the future. For example, a recent RBC report called Green Collar Jobs calls out the potential impact on 3.1 million Canadian jobs in the next decade, and the need to build the kind of workforce required to drive the net zero transition. We will need Ottawa and the provinces, along with employers, to enhance Canada's approaches to immigration, reskilling, and certification for a net zero economy.
In response to the need for a skills revolution, we created RBC Future Launch, our 10-year, CAD 500 million commitment to focus on the future of work. I'm proud that we've increased our Future Launch goal to now reach 4 million young people with tools, scholarships, and partnerships to help youth prepare for this new age of opportunity. Our schools, colleges, and universities have responded with important strides that make Canada's education system among the world's best. If we don't remodel the way we teach and learn, we won't succeed. An example of a new model is the Business and Higher Education Roundtable, an organization I'm proud to chair. BHER, as it's called, is a coalition of employers and educators focusing on the future of learning, including how students can gain more relevant experience while they're in school.
We have helped a target to secure 40,000 work-integrated learning placements, and we'll soon try to expand that through international students who are so critical to Canada's future labor force and economy. BHER is also focusing on how to ensure our excellent colleges and universities can help all Canadians develop the skills they will need for the ongoing digital revolution and energy transformation. We believe a national skills commitment needs to be at the center of our net-zero strategy. Across all of these themes I have touched on, success will be defined by how we work together, something Canadians are good at, particularly in times of uncertainty. In doing so, we can create prosperity and jobs for Canadians and position our economy for long-term sustainable growth. To close, let me go back to where I began.
Those with a clear purpose and strong principles will prevail in both the short and the long run, and I believe RBC is well-positioned to do just that, to grow and create even more value for all of its stakeholders. We have the best people, ideas, and technology, supported by a globally trusted brand. Our scale and market-leading client franchises enable us to continue making bold investments to reimagine the role we play with new and existing clients. We'll continually strive to grow in an inclusive and sustainable way. The combination of our performance, momentum, and a building sense of optimism around a sustained recovery gives me confidence in the future. I wanna thank each and every one of our employees for their contributions to living our purpose, particularly over these past two years. Their efforts have made all the difference.
I also want to thank our investors and shareholders for placing your confidence in RBC. Finally, I want to thank Katie Taylor, our Chair, and the entire board of directors, whose ongoing support and guidance is helping RBC build a more prosperous future for all those we serve. Thank you. I'll now turn the meeting back to Katie.
Thank you, Dave, for that terrific presentation. At this time, I'd like to introduce Carol Cornwall , Sam May, and Nicolas Marcoux, the representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers, our auditor for the 2021 fiscal year, who are also joining us remotely. As indicated in our proxy circular, copies of the auditor's report and the financial statements are included in our 2021 annual report, which can be found on SEDAR and EDGAR, as well as on the websites of RBC and Computershare. Shareholders will now have an opportunity to ask questions on the financial statements. If your question relates to a matter other than the financial statements, please wait until the time provided for shareholder questions following the formal legal business of the meeting. Karen, are there any questions or comments on the financial statements?
No, we have not received any questions.
Thank you. We'll now proceed with the business of the meeting. You've received the notice of meeting, which outlines the matters to be considered today. The notice of meeting is also included in our proxy circular, which is available on our website and on the Lumi platform. I'll now ask Karen to review the voting procedures.
Thank you. Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders will be voting online. The meeting resolutions are being displayed on the website. To vote, tap one of the voting options available. Your vote will be automatically submitted to Computershare, our scrutineers, after you click on your choice. Votes may be changed up to the time voting is closed. If you do not press for, withhold, against, or abstain as applicable when voting is open, your vote will not be recorded, and you'll be regarded as having abstained from voting. The poll will remain open until the chair of the meeting declares voting on all matters closed. Preliminary results will be announced later today, and final results will be posted on our website. A simple majority is required to approve matters voted on at this meeting.
Thank you, Karen. I declare voting on all matters open. To facilitate proceedings, I've asked Karen, who is also a shareholder, to move all motions. I'll call on her at the appropriate time. We'll now proceed with the meeting's first item of business, which is the election of directors. Your board places strong emphasis upon the selection of director candidates by assessing the board's existing strengths against the evolving needs of RBC. An important element of our process is ensuring that a diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, and experiences are present at the board. This year, the number of director nominees has been set by the board at 13. Biographies of each nominee begin on page 14 of the circular. One of the nominees, Roberta Jamieson, is standing for election for the first time this year. Until 2020, Ms.
Jamieson was the president and chief executive officer of Indspire, a Canadian Indigenous charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people. From 2001 to 2004, she was Chief of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and she also served for 10 years as the Ombudsman of Ontario. Roberta was the first First Nations woman to earn a law degree in Canada and is an officer of the Order of Canada. We welcome the wide-ranging insights and experience that Roberta brings to RBC, and we are very pleased to welcome her to our board. I'll now ask Karen to nominate the individuals proposed for election as directors.
I am pleased to nominate each of the following persons to be elected as a director of the bank to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of common shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed.
Toos Daruvala, David Denison, Cynthia Devine, Roberta Jamieson, David McKay, Kathleen Taylor, Maryann Turcke, Bridget van Kralingen, Thierry Vandal, Frank Vettese, and Jeffery Yabuki. Thank you, Karen. Are there any questions or comments on the nominations?
No, there are no questions or comments on the nominations.
Thank you. I declare the nominations closed and will now proceed with the vote. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of our auditor. I'll ask Karen McCarthy to make a motion for the appointment of the auditor.
I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers be appointed the auditor of the bank until the close of the next annual meeting of common shareholders.
Thank you, Karen. Are there any questions or comments on the appointment of the auditor?
No, there are no questions or comments.
Thank you. We'll now proceed with the vote. Next item of business on the agenda is the shareholder advisory vote to our approach to executive compensation. The text of this advisory resolution is set out on page seven of the circular. We hope that you've had a chance to review our compensation discussion and analysis in this year's circular, which explains in detail how our compensation programs are designed to pay for performance and are aligned with effective risk management practices and the long-term interests of our shareholders.
We take a progressive approach to continuously improving our compensation programs, integrating best practices, and responding to input from our independent compensation advisor and our shareholders. In considering our approach to compensation in the future, the board will take into account the results of today's vote together with other feedback received from shareholders. I'll now ask Karen to make a motion to approve this resolution.
I move on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, that the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the management proxy circular delivered in advance of the 2022 annual meeting of common shareholders.
Are there any questions or comments on the advisory vote on executive compensation?
No, there are no questions or comments.
Thank you. We'll now proceed with the vote. At this point in the agenda, we'll move on to the shareholder proposals. Shareholders have had an opportunity to read these proposals in the board's responses, which are set out in the circular starting on page 95. There are eight proposals that are being put to a vote today. We very much value the engagement we have had with proponents and with other shareholders through this process. The first proposal was submitted by Claudia Campbell and Will Horter, represented today by Investors for Paris Compliance. Mr. Matt Price of I4PC is on the phone to present the proposal. Mr. Price, thank you so much for joining us. I would ask that you take a few minutes to speak to the merits of the proposal, and we'll then open the floor for discussion. Mr. Price, please go ahead.
Yep. Good morning. My name is Matt Price. I'm with Investors for Paris Compliance. We track net zero commitments made by publicly traded companies in Canada with a view to accountability. Thank you for your time today, and thanks also to RBC for its engagement on this proposal. As we track the activities of the large Canadian banks on net zero, we find that RBC has the farthest to go but is making the slowest progress. RBC is the largest lender to fossil fuels in Canada, fifth in the world, lending over $262 billion to fossil fuel activity since the signing of the Paris Agreement. Unlike other large Canadian banks, RBC has yet to set any 2030 targets and has yet to account for its downstream or Scope 3 emissions as required by its membership in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
The core part of RBC's climate strategy is its CAD 500 billion commitment to sustainable finance by 2025, which is a welcome step given the critical need to invest in economic transition. Because of vague definitions of what counts as sustainable and an inadequate risk management framework for this business segment, RBC is participating in deals under this program that actually increase emissions, the opposite outcome of that expected. For example, in February, RBC acted as a joint book runner on a sustainability-linked bond issuance by the oil and gas company Tamarack Valley Energy. What does Tamarack do with the money? They use it to acquire another oil and gas company, thereby enabling an expansion of production and expansion of emissions. Last year, RBC participated in both a sustainability-linked loan and bond with Enbridge during the height of the Line 3 pipeline controversy.
That expansion project was equivalent to adding 50 coal-fired power plants' emissions. Line 3 was also vociferously opposed by local Indigenous peoples who fought it in courts and in protests that resulted in hundreds of arrests. RBC is a signatory to the Equator Principles that are supposed to uphold free, prior, and informed consent of affected Indigenous peoples. RBC's compliance with these principles is repeatedly in question, not only with Line 3, but with other projects such as Coastal GasLink and the Trans Mountain pipeline. You could say these deals represent only a small part of RBC's sustainable finance program, but just as a single drop of oil is enough to pollute 100 liters of water, these examples are enough to foster cynicism about RBC's sustainable finance program and raise the reputational risk for the bank.
We know that there are protests at RBC branches across the country today. To its credit, RBC has indicated that it's open to reviewing and updating its approach to sustainable finance as the market evolves, and that's what this proposal is asking for. The simplest solution is for RBC to finance fossil fuel activities via traditional finance, subject to its net zero commitments, and to reserve its sustainable finance for other work. There's no such thing as sustainable fossil fuels, not even if they're produced by carbon capture and storage, because the vast majority of the emissions occur when they're burned.
RBC needs to come into compliance with its Equator Principles commitments and uphold the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples affected by its financing, not just to support sustainable finance, but for all its finance. For these reasons, we encourage shareholders to vote for this proposal. Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Mr. Price. Karen, are there any questions from online participants on this proposal?
There are no questions, Katie.
Thank you. We'll now proceed with the next two shareholder proposals. Proposals two and three were submitted by B.C. General Employees' Union, which is represented today by Ms. Emma Pullman, who is on the phone to present these proposals. Ms. Pullman, thank you for joining us. I'd ask you take a few minutes to speak to the merits of each of the proposals, and we'll then open the floor for discussion. Ms. Pullman, over to you.
Thank you so much. Good morning, fellow RBC shareholders. I am here to present first proposal number 2 on behalf of the B.C. General Employees' Union. That proposal can be found on page 96 of the Management Information Circular. This proposal asks RBC to assess and mitigate the human rights and reputational risks involved in the financialization of housing. Now, if you haven't heard the term financialization of housing yet, I promise you we're going to hear a lot of it moving forward. This Wall Street model is gaining prominence and involves companies buying single-family residences and converting them to rental stock. This relies heavily on bank financing, both through syndicated loan facilities and mortgages. The syndicated facilities require banks to collaborate on due diligence and other aspects of loan assessment and administration.
This business model has been the subject of a lot of controversy and has made headlines in The Washington Post and The New York Times, to name a few. A Canadian developer has already started importing this Wall Street business model into Canada by purchasing hundreds of single-family homes in Ontario for the purposes of renting them out at a profit. This developer seeks a CAD 1 billion Canadian residential real estate portfolio with 4,000 units and eventually an IPO. Given the potential for adverse human rights impacts, we ask, does RBC have the human rights due diligence practices in place to adequately mitigate risk? We do not believe so. RBC's human rights risk mitigation procedures that it describes in its response to our proposal are vague and general. RBC also argues that it cannot collaborate with other banks on human rights due diligence issues.
However, BCGEU filed the same financialization of housing proposal at BMO, another bank and competitor. This proposal and engagement had a very different outcome. After meaningful dialogue with BMO, we were able to withdraw the proposal after BMO acknowledged the potential for the financialization of housing in the single-family residential sector in Canada and committed to evaluating and enhancing its due diligence processes. BMO also took a different position than BMO, seeing the room for collaboration between banks and agreed to raise the topic with the appropriate industry group. RBC's reluctance to be a leader in this area is disappointing.
Therefore, be it resolved that shareholders request RBC take steps to assess and mitigate the human rights and reputational risks involved in the financialization of housing, including acknowledging that housing is a human right and collaborating with leading Canadian banks to develop a human rights due diligence tool that can be used to assess and mitigate the risks of doing business with clients or potential clients whose business practices have the potential to exacerbate the negative effects of the financialization of housing in Canada. We urge shareholders to support this resolution. Thank you. I think I should keep going, and I will move straight on to our next proposal. Again, this is shareholder proposal number 3, found on page 98.
This proposal asks RBC and its business units to not participate in or enable pollution-intensive asset privatization transactions, specifically by not accepting any new mandates to provide financing, lending, or M&A advisory services to these transactions. Public companies with pollution-intensive assets like coal, oil, and gas, and the banks that help finance them, are facing increasing pressure from institutional investors with ESG concerns. Public issuers are beginning to sell off these polluting assets. Increasingly, the only buyers for these assets are private enterprises, which are not subject to the same disclosure requirements of public companies or the same avenues for pressure from institutional investors. RBC has set a goal of achieving net zero by 2050 by setting interim finance emissions reduction targets. I will note, M&A mandates for pollution-intensive asset privatizations don't factor into finance emissions. That's why we feel this proposal is so well-timed and important.
Greening a corporate balance sheet isn't the same as greening the climate, and when an asset moves into the hands of private equity, the climate impacts are the same at the end of the day. In its response to our proposal, RBC states that placing arbitrary limitations on certain prospective parties in a transaction will not meaningfully contribute to achieving carbon reduction goals and will instead have the potential effect of limiting capital in the system that could support the transition. However, RBC already places limitations on the types of transactions in which it will engage. This includes coal mining, energy development in the Arctic, exploration and development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and exploration and development at UNESCO World Heritage sites. Our proposal is simply asking RBC to impose similar restrictions on pollution-intensive asset privatizations.
Therefore, be it resolved, so as to not facilitate adverse environmental impacts in connection with the sale of coal, oil, and gas assets from public companies to private enterprises, shareholders request RBC and its business units to not participate in or enable pollution-intensive asset privatization transactions. We urge shareholders to support this resolution. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Ms. Pullman. Karen, are there any questions on these two proposals?
No, we have not received any questions on these proposals.
Thank you. We'll now proceed with the next shareholder proposals. The other four shareholder proposals that are being put to a vote were submitted by Mouvement d'éducation et de défense des actionnaires, MÉDAC, which is represented today by Mr. Willie Gagnon, who is here on the phone to present these proposals.
First, also included in the circular are six other proposals that MÉDAC submitted but withdrew following discussions with RBC. We very much appreciate your ongoing engagement. Mr. Gagnon,
Mr. Gagnon, I would ask that you take a few minutes to speak to the merits of each of the four proposals that are being put to a vote. We will then open the floor for discussion. Mr. Gagnon, you may now proceed.
Good morning, Chair. I would just like to make sure that you can hear me. I will move forward. My name is Willie Gagnon from the Mouvement d'éducation et de défense des actionnaires or MÉDAC, which is a shareholder of RBC. We're here, as every year, you have received a large number of proposals from MÉDAC. I am going to spend some time, and I'll be as succinct as possible. Our proposal, first proposal, number four, becoming a benefit company. It is proposed that the bank includes in its statute that it should respect its purpose, and this should be in the bank's statute so that if it wants to change it should have a general meeting. We have had, for example, the National Bank of Canada that decided to do so.
Proposal number 5 is about an advisory vote on environmental policy. There is an advisory vote on compensation, for example, and there should be an advisory vote on environmental policy. A number of companies already have this practice like Glencore, CN, CP, Shell, Unilever, and we would invite you to apply this best practice as well, because environmental practices will become something important in the future. Therefore, there should be an advisory vote so that shareholders can express their opinion on the environmental policy. We have sent this to include another proposal about language, and specifically the issue of the French language. We would like the bank to have regulations that forces us to take into account French as the official language.
We do not say that RBC is not behaving properly in terms of language, but we want to have provisions in order to have it, for example, having special general meetings in order to include this in its statute. Some companies, including banks, hold AGMs only in English. There are sometimes some language issues. We have also sent you a proposal on circular economy. We would like the bank to join the Principles for Responsible Banking like BMO or the National Bank or Desjardins. We want the bank to join Circular Economy Leadership Canada. We know that the bank has joined the United Nations Environment Programme, but we do not know why it isn't joining the Circular Economy Leadership Canada program.
We are not submitting this proposal to other banks because they've decided to join such organization. We urge shareholders to support this proposal number 7. As far as I understand, these proposals are going to be put to the vote, and I'll be able to talk about the withdrawn proposals a bit later. Is that right?
Mr. Gagnon, I think it would be great if you could speak to them now while you're on the line.
We sent this proposal, and we said that the disclosure practices of the bank in terms of women in management, we asked them to give more specific information, quantitative and qualitative information, and we saw that the bank's practices were not perfect. But there were good practices, and we actually used the practices of RBC to show as an example what could be done by other banks. That's why we decided to withdraw this proposal. We thought that this, your presentation was very good. The next proposal was about decarbonization. We wanted the bank to have intermediate targets about the weight of its investments and loans in fossil fuels. The bank committed to doing so through the TCFD, among other things.
We are very concerned by news about Greenpeace report that says that Canadian banks have increased their support to fossil fuels by 70% in 2021. We're going to follow this up, but we haven't asked for a vote on this proposal. Proposal D is to create an environmental and climate action committee. It's a proposal by Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and now UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, who asked that businesses should establish a board-level committee with specific responsibility for overseeing climate change. The bank said that climate change was a responsibility for all committees of the board. We were asking for a specific committee to be struck, but we've decided not to put this proposal to a vote.
The bank has accepted on the basis of our proposal on purpose to integrate this responsibility into the governance committee work. We will want the bank to comply with it, with its purpose as written in your response. This is why we've decided not to put this proposal to a vote. Finally, we were asking in proposal F that ESG skills of directors should be included in the skills table of directors. From your answer, from your response, we see that the whole of directors already have such skills and that they will be included in a table in the future, just like we can see in the circular. I invite shareholders to have a look at the circular. That's it. That took a bit of time.
I am sorry, but the reason why there were so many proposals is that there is an accumulation of issues, not only because of the crisis but also because of the specific situation we're in at the moment. Thank you very much, Chair.
Merci beaucoup, Mr. Gagnon.
Thank you very much, Mr. Gagnon.
Thank you so much. Karen, are there any questions on these proposals?
There are no questions on these proposals.
Thank you. We'll now proceed then with the last shareholder proposal. Proposal number eight was submitted by Vancity Investment Management, which is represented on the phone today by Ms. Kelly Hirsch. Ms. Hirsch, thank you for joining us. I'd ask that you take a few minutes to speak to the merits of the proposal, and we'll then open the floor for discussion. Ms. Hirsch, over to you.
Thank you and good morning. Thanks for having me here. I'll just give a little background here as to why we really think this is an important. We appreciate the dialogue we've had with RBC on this, and just wanted to go over a bit why we really think this is an important disclosure for RBC to provide. Economic inequality has been steadily increasing since 1970. A major contributor to this inequality is the increasing gap between what executives are being paid and what the larger workforce is being paid. In 1978, the average CEO's pay in the U.S. was only 31 times higher than the average worker's pay. This has now skyrocketed to 351 times. Canada is not immune to this phenomenon.
In 2020, CEO pay at the top 100 companies on the TSX was 202 times the pay of an average worker. Wages are still diverging, with average pay increases for executives at 17% from 2019 to 2020. This compares to only 4% for the average worker over the same time period. This highlights that the value being created by companies is increasingly accumulating at the top of the organization, which is driving wealth inequality more broadly. On a society level, this growing inequality leads to poor outcomes for individuals across socioeconomic divides. Much research has shown that unequal societies are associated with poorer health, more violence, a lack of community life, and increased rates of mental illness across socioeconomic classes.
Specific to RBC's operations, compensation gaps within an organization lead to lower employee morale, which can destroy company value, as unmotivated employees are less likely to perform at their best and generate value for an organization. This can also lead to higher employee turnover, which is a significant cost for organizations, especially for human capital-intensive companies such as RBC. It's critical to recognize that the ratio from a single year is not the focus. In order for the ratio to be useful, investors, employees, and management need to see the trend over time. This allows RBC to ensure the wage gap is not widening. If it is, as has been the tendency for the past few decades, this tool will be critical to identify that and make corrections to ensure employee sentiment stays positive, preventing turnover, costs, and decreased productivity.
This disclosure is already a requirement in the U.S. and the U.K., and there are well-established methods, including some outlines in GRI reporting standards, to calculate and provide this disclosure. We firmly believe it is possible and in the best interest of RBC and the company's shareholders to begin tracking and disclosing the CEO-to-median worker pay ratio. Therefore, we propose the board of directors undertake a review of executive compensation levels in relation to the entire workforce, and at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, provide a report to shareholders and publicly disclose the CEO compensation to median worker pay ratio. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Ms. Hirsch. Karen, are there any questions on our last proposal?
Yes, we do have a question from Mr. Gagnon on the say on pay, and Mr. Lionel Zambo will read this question.
Please go ahead.
Bonjour. Mon nom est. Hi, my name is Willie Gagnon. I am taking the floor on behalf of MÉDAC. MÉDAC is a shareholder of RBC. The Bank of Nova Scotia now publishes its pay ratio. It is the first bank that is doing it here in Canada. We've been asking for this pay ratio for years, if not decades. Apart from the Bank of Nova Scotia, Desjardins also has been publishing its pay ratio since 2016. It is a best practice that presents a vertical analysis of compensation. Will RBC publish its pay ratio at some point? If so, when? If not, why? Thank you.
The board's response to shareholder proposal number 8 was set out in the circular. Not to take too much time up today, but just to reiterate that the board takes very seriously its responsibility to oversee both executive compensation and the overall well-being of RBC's at RBC. We do of course note and do take note of all of the data that goes into what's happening inside the bank, including, as we note in the circular, looking at the vertical pay ratio, but just as one data point. There are so many data points in a very complex, as you can imagine, both organization and process.
We also note in the circular that executive pay is much more, in percentage terms trended to pay at risk, which is quite different from from median employees. We do think that there is a lot of complexity behind this request, and we'll continue to have our dialogue with you and with others on our approach to executive compensation. As I say, I'll turn shareholders to the detail of our response to this proposal and the answer to your question, on page 105 and 106 of the circular. Thank you. Are there any further questions, Karen?
No, there are no further questions.
Thank you so much. We'll now proceed with the vote on all the shareholder proposals. If you've not yet voted on any of the other business items on the agenda, please do so now as well. I'm just taking a moment here to make sure that everyone has a chance to put their votes in on the Lumi platform. Terrific. As we've now dealt with all the business items on the agenda, I declare voting on all matters closed. The world is entering a powerful age of ideas as we begin to rethink and rebuild in a new and rapidly changing era. Recently, RBC repositioned the brand around ideas through our new brand platform, Ideas Happen Here. This position asserts our abiding belief in the power of people and their ideas to help clients thrive and communities prosper.
Now I'd like to share a video to showcase some of the early work.
Here's an idea. I have an idea. Here's an idea. I have an idea. Eh? Okay, okay. Yeah. You speed dating? No, me. Oh, gotta go. I have an idea. Let's do our own investing. Make some money moves. Ooh, here's an idea. RBC can show us how much home we can afford in just 60 seconds. Wow. Here's an idea. When it comes to your spending, you could remove the guesswork with NOMI Forecast in the RBC Mobile app. Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. One idea can change everything. Let's put first impressions second and listen first. RBC Future Launch, empowering you for the jobs of today and tomorrow. What we learned is that creative skills can be nurtured and encouraged anywhere, and everyone can make change happen.
I've been informed that the scrutineers have now completed their preliminary tabulation of the votes cast in respect of each of the items on the agenda. I'll now ask Karen to speak to the preliminary voting results. Karen?
The scrutineers have reported that 52.78% of eligible shares have been voted at this meeting. According to the scrutineers' report, I am pleased to report that all 13 directors named in the circular have been elected with over 90% of the votes in favor. PricewaterhouseCoopers was reappointed as our auditor with 99% of the votes in favor. The advisory resolution on the approach to executive compensation was passed with 95% of the votes in favor, and the shareholder proposals were not approved. Proposal one on updating sustainable finance criteria received 8% of the votes in favor. Proposal two on the finalization of housing received 22% of the votes in favor. Proposal three on avoiding bank participation in pollution-intensive assets privatizations received 6% of the votes in favor.
Proposal 4 on becoming a benefit company received 5% of the votes in favor. Proposal 5 on an advisory vote on the environmental policy received 21% of the votes in favor. Proposal 7 on the circular economy received 18% of the votes in favor. Proposal 8 on the disclosure of the pay ratio received 13% of the votes in favor. Final detailed results will be posted on the Bank's website and on SEDAR.
Thank you, Karen. Ladies and gentlemen, that completes the formal business of our meeting today. Let's now move on to the question period. Before we begin, Karen, could you please remind us how to ask questions during the question period?
With pleasure. Shareholders and proxy holders may submit questions during the question period through the Lumi platform. As mentioned earlier, in order to give all shareholders or proxy holders the opportunity to participate and ask questions, please only ask one question at a time and speak for no more than three minutes. Questions should be of interest to all shareholders and not of a personal nature. Written questions on the same topic or theme may be grouped, summarized, and addressed at the same time. If your question is related to a personal matter, an RBC representative will contact you after the information. For more information on how this question period will be conducted, please refer to the rules of conduct, which are available on our website and on the Lumi platform.
Thank you, Karen. Do we have any questions on the Lumi platform?
Yes, we do. Katie, we have a question on the line from Emily DeMasi.
Very good. Thank you, Karen. Go ahead, Ms. DeMasi.
I thank the chair, members of the board and fellow shareholders. My name is Emily DeMasi, and I work for EOS at Federated Hermes. I'm here on behalf of our institutional investor clients, who own CAD 4.6 billion in Royal Bank of Canada equity, effectively making them the bank's third-largest shareholder. We are also active participants in the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, IIGCC. IIGCC's investor expectations for the banking sector include aligning the bank's financing with the delivery of the goals of the Paris Agreement, governance of climate risks and opportunities, and the bank's disclosure of its climate governance, strategy, risk management approach, and metrics and targets to be in line with the recommendations of the TCFD.
Today, I would like to address the bank's climate strategy as it relates to a just transition as we consider this important for the long-term success of Royal Bank of Canada. We appreciate the bank's net-zero by 2050 target and its Climate Blueprint, which details its strategic priorities for building a sustainable future. We also acknowledge the bank's interim goals to reduce absolute GHG emissions by 70% with a baseline year of 2018 and an increased sourcing of electricity sourced from renewable and non-emitting sources to 100%, both by 2025 to help drive its net-zero operation strategy. We also appreciate RBC's commitment to working with clients and communities to achieve net zero in a socially inclusive transition. We note there is no explicit mention of communities in its strategic priorities, actions, or commitments.
Special consideration and plans should be detailed for communities most adversely affected by the fossil fuel industry. Our concern here is that as other financial institutions withdraw from these activities, a concentration of risk may occur within the Canadian banking sector. To mitigate against these risks, banks should be working with communities towards achieving a just transition. This engagement will support RBC in navigating risks and opportunities within the low carbon transition with respect to environmental justice and human rights. I ask the chair, will Royal Bank of Canada explicitly commit to achieve a just transition with specific attention to impacts and opportunities for its key stakeholders, including workers, their families, and the communities most impacted by the low carbon transition?
Will this commitment be supported by sector-based decarbonization targets aligned to 1.5 degrees Celsius and reporting on the specific actions the bank will take to achieve the just transition, including clarity on how borrowers' own commitments, capacity, and strategy to achieve the just transition is factored into financial decision-making? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Ms. DeMasi, for your very important question. As you heard Dave speak about, and we've referenced in many of the materials that the board has approved for release as part of our Climate Blueprint, a coordinated response to climate transition and a just approach to climate transition is a hallmark of a good transition. I think if you have a chance, everyone, to look through RBC's commitments, you can see there that this is well taken into account. Dave spoke extensively about this in his remarks earlier as well. Perhaps I'll ask him to elaborate a little bit further about how management is thinking about these issues going forward.
Thank you, Katie, and thank you Ms. DeMasi for that really important question. You know, the principle of an orderly, inclusive and just transition is so important because I think one of the real risks of this very complex journey we have to get to net zero in 2050 is the risk of a disorderly transition. Therefore, how we approach the transition of our economy is so important. We're committed to that principle. That principle means engaging on this complex journey with all stakeholders, with government, with, to your point, with communities, with organizations and with corporations, with NGOs. It is a journey, a complex journey that we all must work together on. To your point, we are gonna play a lead role and an important role in supporting that transition of our communities.
Now, specifically when we talk about a just transition, to your question, there's a number of things that we're focused on in helping support a just transition in our communities, which are so important. As you know, it's part of our purpose, helping clients thrive and communities prosper. It's very much in the spirit of our North Star to do that. You know, I'll just highlight a couple initiatives given the time we have. The first one is really around the talent that we're gonna need to make this transition and training a new green workforce. You heard in our skills report, we're gonna need 3.1 million impacted jobs. How do we build the green economy through the incredible talent that we have in this country?
It feeds into our RBC Future Launch commitment, our CAD 500 million commitment, and it feeds into helping define the types of roles we need. Now, furthermore, to support that, we started to create different innovation hubs around the country, whether it be in Halifax or Alberta, where there's different sources of energy at play to create an expertise and to invest in the future. You know, the second role I'd like to highlight that we play is really the strong advisory role. Advisory role from consumers through to large corporations and advisory roles that really help Indigenous communities and advocate for their economic participation in this journey is so important in a just and inclusive journey, to your point.
You know, some of those advisory roles that we've taken on most recently, whether it's with Suncor and Fort McKay and the Cree First Nation partnership on the East Tank Farm project. Another one with the Watay Power transmission line, you know, 51%, which is owned by 24 First Nations. A sale of the Clearwater Seafoods' premium brands to a coalition of Mi'kmaq First Nation. Playing an advisory role, making sure it's an inclusive transition, that economic participation is there, are so important. Thank you for your question, but it's very much part of our purpose and very much part of the principles that we like to see in a multi-stakeholder journey.
Thank you, Dave. Karen, are there additional questions?
Yes, we do, Katie. We have several questions. The first question is a written question from Roger Straathof. With the recent announcement by the federal government to move forward with open banking, what do you consider to be the opportunities and challenges for RBC?
Open banking is an important construct. We've been an active participant in the journey in helping define and really customize and tailor a Made in Canada solution to open banking. There are open banking constructs in a number of other markets in Europe and Australia in particular, but very much working in partnership with government, which is so important to talk about what is the Made in Canada solution. I think there are a number of core principles that we're trying to put in place that I think are really important: the client around privacy and their right to their own data and data at the center of everything they do in their lives, ensure efficiency, innovation, and competitiveness of the system, ensure that all federally regulated and non-regulated entities are guided by consistent rules and consistent policies.
Because right now we have we have a significant portion and a growing portion that will be aided by an open banking system fall outside of the regulatory environment and very much advocating for an inclusive regulatory framework that includes all participants in this system. I think, you know, based on that foundation, based on those rules, we feel very confident in a fair system, a system that benefits Canadians, and a system that we think RBC is gonna prosper with.
Thank you, Dave. Karen, over to you for additional questions on the platform.
Yes, we have a question on the line from Emily Jelich.
Go ahead, Ms. Jelich.
Hi, can you hear me?
We can hear you perfectly.
Wonderful. I am not sure if this is a process that can happen, but I am aware that there are three Wet'suwet'en Chiefs in queue right now to ask questions, and I would like for their questions and their time, or for their questions to be answered before mine, if that's possible, so that we ensure that their questions are asked in the time allotted. Is that? Will there be time for their questions? Can I, if not, defer my question until theirs has been answered?
I'm happy to defer your question until after the next few questions are taken. Again, we'll just remind folks there's a lot of people on the line, so if everyone can follow Karen's advice, three minutes for your question, and give me and Dave a chance to respond. We'll go to the next question in the queue. Thank you.
Yes, Katie. We have on the line John Ridsdale.
Mr. Ridsdale, welcome. Over to you. Mr. Ridsdale?
On the line, we also have
Go ahead, Karen, with the next one then.
On the line, we also have Fred Tom.
Mr. Tom, are you there? Let's carry on, and we'll see if people can re-queue with the technology.
Sorry.
Sorry, is that Mr. Tom?
Hello?
Hello.
Can you hear me?
Yes. Could you please give us your name and tell us whether you're a proxy holder or a shareholder?
Hey, this is Fred Tom, Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh, Gidimt'en Clan. I have a question to the shareholders. RBC Human Rights position statement states that RBC will "We will strive to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impact to our own business activities and will aim to prevent and mitigate adverse impact on which we may be directly linked to take an appropriate action." RBC is funding the construction of a project that will run beneath the pristine drinking water and spawning ground, spawning river, Wet'suwet'en. This is a headwater to all the rivers downstream to all nations on the river rely on that salmon. Not only does the CGL have no evidence or science mitigate impact on drinking water, but according to BC Environmental Assessment Office, they have already violated nearly two dozen sediment erosion permits conditions.
The damage that has been done to our creek, river, and wetland forest has already been impacted our ability to hunt our moose and other wildlife we rely on. Every time we ask questions about how we're working to impact our land, they say, "We'll look into it, then get back to you," but they never get back to me. Meanwhile, RBC is bankrolling the destruction of our last clean drinking water resources, the river where our salmon have been spawning for thousands of years. This pipeline defies the human rights of our young people by threatening their ability to feed themselves and practice their culture. How is RBC being accountable to this policy, their shareholders, their human rights, and the rights of our young people by continuing to fund the Coastal GasLink pipeline?
Thank you for your question. I'm gonna ask Mr. McKay to address the meeting.
Well, thank you, sir, for joining us today and speaking with such passion and conviction and expressing your concerns. Let me assure you first and foremost that RBC only supports projects that are environmentally and socially responsible. Specific to your point around the Coastal GasLink project, it has been extensively reviewed and approved by regulatory and government bodies and meets the obligations related to free and informed prior consent of First Nations. This pipeline is important to, I believe, and the communities along the route of this pipeline, all 20 communities, the reconciliation and the economic inclusion of First Nations on this journey to the point where all 20 elected First Nations have approved this and has the support of hereditary leaders along the route.
In addition, 16 of the 20 nations along the Coastal GasLink route have taken the option to have an economic interest. If you look at, you know, a number of participants along that line, I'd like to read you know, a couple of quotes from First Nation leaders. One from Chief Crystal Smith from the Haisla Nation. "Companies like LNG Canada and Coastal GasLink Pipeline, which will supply it with gas, came to Haisla and delivered what we needed for a century, a share and a say." From Chief Sharleen Gale of the Fort Nelson First Nation and chair of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition. She's quoted as saying, "First Nations Major Projects Coalition is proud to assist our 11-member First Nations in bringing this deal across the line.
Our efforts truly represent First Nations helping First Nations succeed in business, and I wanna congratulate our members for working together to make this historic achievement a reality. I know there are divisions within parts of the community, and I know it's important, and we respect that the First Nations need to resolve the disagreements within their own community. We're certainly willing to play any role, if asked, to help mediate those discussions and participate and support those discussions. But coming back to my, you know, original point, this project has been extensively reviewed and approved by regulatory. It has the support of the vast majority of First Nations elected and hereditary leaders. RBC will continue to support it for those reasons.
Thank you, Dave. Karen, could we go to the next question on the platform?
Katie, we have a question online from Mr. John Ridsdale.
Mr. Ridsdale, please go ahead with your question.
Can you hear us?
We can hear you fine.
Hello. My name is Chief. I am the highest ranking chief of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. We have 22,000 sq km of unceded non-treaty lands. My question is, I understand that RBC has a due diligence process aimed at identifying, analyzing, and mitigating, where possible, risk to their investments. The Wet'suwet'en Nation legal and governance system is one of the most researched, recognized, and documented, and includes our own history book taught in public school systems, trial evidence in the Supreme Court, and academic articles and books by anthropologists and ethnographers and even colonial institutions like the courts and universities. The Supreme Court of Canada ruling on December eleventh, 1997, in the Delgamuukw v. British Columbia case, affirmed that hereditary clan governance system is and has always been the governing body authority over our lands.
After the court ruled that Wet'suwet'en had never extinguished title to our land, the provincial government entered treaty negotiations with the Hereditary Chiefs, not the Indian Act band council. It is impossible that a financial institution such as yourself could so blatantly ignore the existence of the Wet'suwet'en governance, Wet'suwet'en law, and continued Canada's denial of indigenous rights, which has resulted in the genocide of Wet'suwet'en people for the last 150 years. How did RBC due diligence process fail to identify the clear opposition of the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs? How will you take the accountability for this grave mistake and make your shareholders aware of this?
Thank you, sir, for again speaking with such passion and conviction. I want you to know that RBC is strongly committed to fostering Truth and Reconciliation with Canada's Indigenous peoples, and we are engaged with these issues with a full heart. As I responded to the previous question, we only support projects that are environmentally and socially responsible. This project has been extensively reviewed and approved by regulatory government bodies, the BC government in question, and meets the obligations related to free, informed, prior consent. To my point, all 20 nations along the route, all 20 elected and hereditary leaders, including Wet'suwet'en elected leaders, have approved and support this project because it's good for their economic development. There are opportunities in supply agreements to create further economic development within the communities along this route. 10% participation.
16 of the 20 First Nations have already taken up that option. Therefore, to the quotes I read in the previous question from two very senior chiefs of First Nations along the route, the support is there from the elected and hereditary leaders. To your point, there are disagreements within your community, and there are forums being organized by the BC government to deal with some of the questions that you raise. We encourage the communities, and this is the feedback I've received from hereditary leaders across the country that we have to give space, and we have to respect the First Nations culture to solve these problems within their community. I do not believe RBC should impose its view.
The elected leaders and the hereditary leaders have spoken on this project, and therefore, given that it's received all approvals, given that it supports reconciliation, given that it supports economic development along the route, given that all 20 elected leaders and hereditary leaders have supported this, those are the conditions which we view we should support. It's not for RBC to take away from all those communities that support this, their ability to have that economic prosperity. Therefore, we support this project.
Thank you, Dave. Karen, we'll now go to our next question.
Our next question is from the line, Jeff Brown.
Hello? Hello, can you hear us? Hello? Yes. Can you hear me? We can hear you well. Please go ahead.
Okay. My name is Jeff Brown. I'm a hereditary chief for the Gidimt'en Clan of the House of Nassest'y, where lies Blockade Trail. Where this pipeline is going through is on Gidimt'en land. I'll give you a short intro. RBC and Coastal GasLink claim they support the reconciliation and Indigenous people and have consulted with the First Nation along the route to Coastal GasLink project. The statement is unfounded when we're considering the rightful holders of the land and the immense amount of violence to Indigenous people and the environment that have already occurred at the hands of the RCMP, CGL, and RBC. We uphold the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chief are sole title holders of 22,000 sq km.
Our unceded territory, our yintah, our land, has been a home for thousands of years. Our government structure is held in the law of Canada used to oppose, oppress, prosecute, convict, commit genocide against our people. We continually occupy the sovereign territory of the title holders. RBC, Coastal GasLink have no right to choose when to recognize our sovereignty. We are sovereigns. We are Wet'suwet'en. We declare in our feast hall that no pipeline will be built on Wet'suwet'en yintah. This project will never be completed on our territory. It's already years behind schedule and CAD 4 billion over budget. Investments in this project will never see a profit because of your lack of due diligence on the sovereign rights of our nation. How have you informed shareholders of RBC involvement in this project?
Finally jeopardizing the investment until you stop enabling destruction of our Indigenous lands and culture. I wanna thank you for letting me speak. You say you got a commitment from the Indigenous people, but they've never once have spoken to the hereditary chiefs. You say you have the backing of the hereditary chiefs, but you don't. The one chief that implicated to Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs was an elected official. Thank you.
Thank you, sir, for expressing your concerns on this really important, and I know, emotional issue. I think as I've answered in the previous two very senior leaders who have asked questions, I'm not gonna repeat my answer. You've raised a lot of the answer in your question around the support, the broad support that this project has because of the economic inclusion, because of the benefits to the communities along the way. We recognize there are disagreements within some of the communities. I'd like to read you a quote from a hereditary chief in the Wet'suwet'en First Nation, Chief Theresa Tait-Day. Her quote is, "As a nation, we need to start a healing process.
We need to build our community, and we should look for opportunities from industry, and we shouldn't be fighting every opportunity that comes to our table for consideration. Our feeling is that these are people from outside a province. We should like them to go home and leave the decision-making of these projects to the Wet'suwet'en people. We don't need outsiders' help. Therefore, I think as part of the reconciliation journey, we need to respect the community's ability to resolve these issues internally. To the point I made, I know there's a number of forums, including the BC government, is trying to bring these forums together. Therefore, thank you for your question. Thank you for your participation in today's meeting, and my answer is same as the previous two questions.
Thank you, Dave. Thank you, gentlemen, for all being with us today and speaking so eloquently to the issue. As promised, I'm going to go back to Ms. Jelich, who asked for her question to be delayed until after your three. Ms. Jelich, if you're still on the line, over to you.
I am still on the line. Thank you. Can you hear me?
We can hear you perfectly.
Wonderful. I represent over 2,000 RBC shareholders who are SumOfUs members. In the fall, several of those shareholders attempted to file a proposal that was rejected due to word count. I will now present some of the concerns raised within that proposal and ask Mr. McKay and the board to respond. Investors recognize RBC's recent climate commitments, including a net zero by 2050 commitment in line with the Paris Agreement, with interim targets yet to be released and its membership to PCAF. Investors also recognize the CAD 500 billion commitment in sustainable finance that RBC announced at the same time. However, RBC continues to have significant exposure to fossil fuels. RBC remains the fifth-largest funder of fossil fuels in the world and the fifth-largest funding of new fossil fuel projects since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.
Additionally, RBC lands in the top 40 for funding coal power. Continuing to fund fossil fuel companies and projects will ultimately prevent RBC from reaching a net zero commitment unless RBC makes significant and urgent changes. The IPCC's 2021 report states that a more than 1.5 degrees Celsius warming will have significant impacts on frequency and severity of extreme weather events, which lead to catastrophic economic, social, health, and environmental outcomes. The International Energy Agency's 2021 report outlining the path to net zero by 2050 stated, in order to achieve a maximum 1.5 degrees Celsius warming by 2050, there must be no new development of fossil fuel assets of any kind.
Public outcry and protests against RBC have highlighted our corporation's role in the climate crisis, which presents significant reputational risk to shareholders should RBC be unable to take urgent and bold action to meet its climate targets. Therefore, shareholders request that RBC adopt a policy of not financing new fossil fuel supplies, including financing of companies exploring or developing undeveloped oil and gas reserves by the end of 2022 across all markets and regions. This is definitely, as your new branding video just stated, an idea whose time has come. When will RBC implement it? Thank you.
Thank you for that question and voicing your concerns. We do believe that climate change is one of the world's and our country's most pressing issues, and we are fully committed to achieving our net zero emissions. I think to the first point, one of the principles we talked about already today is around an orderly and inclusive transition. This is a transition in emissions, not financing. A number of the numbers that you put out there were a mix between financing and market activity of moving capital in society, and it's really a different metric. That's why when we talk about measuring emissions, because this is about an emissions transition that we're focused on global standards like TCFD and other standards.
I think in PCAF being a particular, and when you see us in our most recent TCFD report and the, you know, the Scope 1 and 2 emissions that we did articulate based on global standards of emissions. I think from that perspective, this is a transition and an orderly transition that we need from emissions from where we are today in Canada, 700+ megatons, to net zero by 2050. That is completely aligned to how the Canadian government has articulated its climate plan and how Minister Guilbeault spoke to the most recent IPCC report that the government plan is to transition to a net zero emissions economy.
That's gonna require financing and capital to be moved in society to fund new technologies, to fund projects that allow us to make an orderly transition. 'Cause my biggest fear is we can't be unsuccessful in this journey. We have to be successful to net zero. The biggest risk, as I talked about in my speech, is a disorderly transition, and we're already seeing that. That risk manifest itself in Europe right now with the Russian aggression and invasion and a war against Ukraine, and a disruption in energy markets, and the rethinking of energy sources, much higher carbon-emitting sources than we were previously gonna use because of those risks. An orderly transition and a thoughtful and planned transition allows us to leverage the assets in Canada. There's no reason why Canadian energy can't displace higher GHG emitting energy in other countries.
It's part of a global journey and therefore a planned journey. This is not about a financing journey that you pointed out. Our government has set the bar. The Paris Agreement has set the bar. This is about an orderly and energy-secure emissions journey. Therefore, that's how we should measure it. We should measure it with global standards as we're doing, and we should commit to that journey which we've done. You'll see further targets against the emissions. We're gonna need capital, up to CAD 2 trillion of capital to make this journey. We can play a significant role. Part of it, CAD 500 billion in sustained financing we have, but we're gonna have to move CAD 2 trillion of capital around the Canadian economy and facilitate that to effect a secure journey towards.
We should celebrate that and not criticize it, 'cause if you criticize it, we're focused on the wrong variable. This is an emissions journey that requires energy security for every nation, and without that, we risk the entire journey.
Thank you, Dave. I would just add, Ms. Jelich, that, as I said in my opening remarks, the key focus for the board this year and last has been working with management on the journey, obviously and intensively around our Climate Blueprint. We are discussing climate and climate-related issues, I would say, at virtually every meeting. As you heard earlier from Mr. Gagnon, the governance committee is overseeing the board's work on this, although it goes across literally all committees and the full board. We'll continue to remain actively engaged in RBC's journey here to make sure that the risks and opportunities that Dave has enunciated so well are continue to be reviewed and understood. You have our commitment on that. We'll go now to the next question in the queue. Karen, please.
Thank you, Katie. We have a question online. Good morning, Mr. McKay. My name is Al Best. I am a shareholder. Rumors abound that the federal government would introduce a new 3% tax on earnings exceeding 1 billion. Two questions. One, what would the amount of additional tax RBC would have paid on 2021 earnings had such a tax been imposed in 2021? And what are your views on this proposed tax?
Thank you for your question. Certainly, you've seen me speak publicly about the need to attract capital to our country. We need to attract investment to grow our economy, to take advantage of the new supply chains and rewiring of global trade to fund the CAD 2 trillion transition that we're gonna need to get to net zero on climate. We're gonna have to attract a significant amount of foreign capital, and we're gonna have to encourage Canadians to invest in this journey as well, invest in our economy. That requires tax policy that encourages investment in the future. Therefore, it's really important that we invest our future, and tax incentives are for productive investment and not just redistribution. Therefore, from that perspective, we'd be concerned by any new tax that is a tax and redistribution without productive use.
You know, singling out a single industry, the message that sends to foreign investors about the confidence in investing in our country raises concerns. From that perspective, taxation policy and attracting investment and the balance of that, we should all be concerned about as Canadians. As far as measuring it, we'll have to get back to you. I don't have a calculator here, but we should be able to do that for you pretty quickly to get that answer once it's announced.
Thank you, Dave. Karen, can we go to the next question?
Yes, sir. The question on the line from Richard Sandbrook.
Sandbrook, please go ahead.
My name is Richard Sandbrook. Even today, the pandemic continues to affect daily activities. However, as a shareholder and a customer, I must say how pleased I am on how well RBC has adapted and your remarkable financial results, initiatives, and ideas. My question will be on cybersecurity preparedness, but I also wanted to say that as a customer, I feel I've been the beneficiary of both RBC's extraordinary customer and employee satisfaction levels. And then just finally, my background is that my grandparents all came from the Ukraine. So just on behalf of myself and many others, I just wanted to say how grateful we were for RBC's quick, moral and financial support of families in the Ukraine.
My question, with all this sort of negative activity and over the past two years, and most recently, we have seen an increase in a wide variety of cybersecurity threats from governments, private organizations, whether it's ransomware or just creating chaos or political disruptions. Given these threats and my concern, I'm just asking, given RBC's vast size, its multiple complex business lines, as well as global geographic locations, I'm asking the CEO if he can comment on RBC's sort of preparedness in this current and threatening environment. Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir, for your question, an important question. First, let me say our thoughts with everyone in Ukraine. This is a horrific humanitarian crisis, and the Ukrainian people deserve all our support. We're proud to be able to provide support, the CAD 1 million that you referenced, and our continuing ongoing support of refugees in Ukraine is so important. I'm very sorry to hear of the family you have there. Your question is really important on cybersecurity because it does present a significant challenge and threat to our society at large, whether it's nation-state based or economic or commercially based, more often than not. I can tell you that in our preparation for cybersecurity, we've more than doubled our investment in cyber defense.
We have partnerships with the best firms around the world. We have an incredibly sophisticated and advanced team. We run significant cybersecurity exercises. We spare no expense in the technology and the capabilities that we deploy to defend our customer franchise and help defend our country. We do see a growth in cyber threats over time. We've seen a growth in cyber threats since the beginning of the invasion and the aggression and war in Ukraine. I can tell you we continue to have the utmost of confidence in the investments and the people we have to defend our customer franchise. Last, I'll say that thank you for your comments. We're very proud of the service levels we deliver to 15 million Canadian clients.
Being number one in J.D. Power for such a large organization with so many clients is a tribute to the 87,000 employees that we have and our commitment to client first and our commitment to building our business and our organization from the client in. I really appreciate your comments and hopefully you take comfort in. Cyber is something that I talk to the Chief Technology Officer about regularly. Thank you.
Thank you. Karen, can you please tee up the next question in our queue?
We have a question on the line from Richard Brooks.
Welcome, Mr. Brooks. Please go ahead.
Hey. Hello. Can you hear me okay?
We hear you well.
I'm a beneficial shareholder of record. I'm deeply disappointed that the in-person portion of this meeting was canceled. Scotiabank was able to host their meeting in person despite their CEO testing positive for COVID. The only difference between the Scotiabank meeting and the RBC AGM today seems to be the presence of the Wet'suwet'en chiefs who traveled all the way from BC to be here. Not wanting to face its critics is not particularly surprising from RBC, though. New fossil fuel financing numbers were released last week. RBC's record, despite its net-zero commitments, is getting worse. You have put CAD 260 billion into fossil fuel projects from financing to loans to your deal book to business acquisitions since the Paris Agreement was ratified.
You actually increased financing of fossil fuels by $19 billion in 2021 compared to 2020, despite the overwhelming climate science and your net zero commitments, including the GFANZ alliance. You doubled tar sand financing in 2021. There were no emissions reductions. You talked about putting more money into the so-called sustainable investments, Mr. McKay, which is similar to stepping on the accelerator to build out more renewables and laudable, but you're also hitting the brakes with your continued outsized financing of fossil fuels. The majority of the bank's fossil fuel-related clients like Enbridge, Canadian Natural Resources, TC Energy, do not have adequate or robust transition plans.
They are not on track to halve their emissions by 2030, which means that RBC will miss its existing weak net zero commitments. Are you prepared to walk away from fossil fuel companies within the next 18 months that do not have robust plans to stop expanding fossil fuel production and increasing emissions?
Thank you for your question. I'll perhaps go first, and then I'll turn it over to Dave today. Let me just say that we were also very disappointed to have to move to a virtual-only format at the last minute. Unlike Scotia, our COVID-19 case involved close contact with a number of RBC employees and others who were critical in the staging of the in-person event. Having said that, we had the backup plan with Lumi organized just in case. The pandemic has been very uncertain.
I'm very glad that we've been able to engage not only with you, but with those representing the Wet'suwet'en territories, et cetera, and others who are on the line asking great questions today, and engaging fully in a dialogue with our CEO and me as representative of the board. Thank you for being here. Again, our apologies to all who have been inconvenienced by this. We're very sorry. Dave, maybe over to you to further answer.
Yes. Thank you for your question. To Katie's point, I don't think if anything we've learned over the last 2.5 years during the COVID crisis and pandemic is that we can effectively run meetings and answer questions and engage in a digital world, and I feel very confident we've done that with our shareholders today. To your question around our commitments, we do believe climate change is one of the most pressing issues. We are committed to a transition and achieving net zero in emissions, and you know, -40% targets that our government has set for us in 2030. That is a journey. Back to my original points, this is a journey that has to be an orderly journey and an inclusive journey, and we don't have strategies and plans to transition our energy infrastructure overnight.
Therefore, we have to come up with plans. You know, setting an artificial deadline to make such a complex and difficult transition risks an orderly transition, risks our country's energy security. We've seen the damage that can happen economically and socially if you don't have energy security and confidence in that plan. I come back to the need for an orderly transition in emissions as a focus. That is how Minister Guilbeault articulated the journey that Canada's gonna take. RBC supports our government. That's what Canadians are asking for. Therefore, you know, your question, it puts us in conflict with Canadians and our own government's choice and our democratic society's choice about how to take this journey.
Now, to your points about the numbers that you're quoting around financed emissions are just incorrect, and I believe you're taking them from the RAN report. Let me just give a couple of statistics to the rest of our shareholders so they understand the difference between a market intermediary role in refinancing and moving capital in our society, which might not, and likely isn't being used to expand versus financed emissions. I can tell you that in our own financed emissions over the last since 2019 have decreased by 25%. The numbers you're quoting come from a report that mixes together market activity and balance sheet repositioning and refinancing and fundraising with the actual emissions or lending financing.
Having said that, back to my most important point is this is about an orderly journey to reduce emissions, and it's gonna take more than a year and a half to figure that out. Making sure it's orderly and planned and that we have energy security to eat, to have a medical facility, to educate our future, to work, to protect our economy, we have to do this in a very smart way, and therefore, we just can't stop. We have to transition in a secure way. Therefore, our commitment is to support our government's plan in transitioning the emissions of our lending portfolios. We will set targets for that and to support our country's journey. Thank you for your question.
Thank you very much, Dave. We're going to go to another question on the queue. Shareholder seems to have had some trouble connecting, so I'm going to go straight to that question next. Karen, can you help me do that?
We have Tara Sutherland on the line.
Tara Sutherland, please go ahead.
Hello.
Hello.
Hi. I'm a proxy, as I put in for Ms. Teran, and I would like to ask my question now.
Very good.
Good morning. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Melina Laboucan-Massimo. I am Lubicon Cree, born into my community, which is in the heart of the tar sands. On paper, your bank has impressive funding policies on sustainability and respect for Indigenous rights. I would like to quickly share the experience of how RBC's investments have had quite the opposite effect with detrimental impacts. For years, RBC has fueled the climate emergency by heavily financing fossil fuels. I myself have spoke about the impact of the tar sands and the extraction it's had on our homelands at the RBC AGM in 2009. Instead of listening, RBC has continued to cause immeasurable harm.
Within my lifetime, my community has went from living in a thriving ecosystem, being able to drink clean water and breathe clean air, to instead being surrounded by immense environmental degradation. My community and many other indigenous communities have been forced to live in a fossil fuel impact zone where we are repeatedly experiencing oil and gas spills as well as toxic contamination from tar sands and fracking. The area of destruction that I'm talking about in the tar sands is equal to an industrial wasteland the size of the state of Florida in Alberta. It is also the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, and that is why Canada has repeatedly failed to meet its international climate commitments and adequately reduce its emissions. By funding tar sands projects, RBC continues to play a lead role in making this devastation possible.
By poisoning our land, air, and water, fossil fuel extraction threatens the very survival of Indigenous peoples, and our planet is now at a tipping point. 2050 is not soon enough to act on climate, and net zero technologies like carbon capture and storage remain unproven. RBC is like the leading bank of fossil fuels in Canada and the fifth largest in the world globally. What I want to make clear today is what RBC is financing is not just numbers in a spreadsheet or dollars in a bank account. These are our very lives in the balance, and our climate is also at stake.
RBC is financing cultural and environmental genocide, and this is why over the years, First Nations in the tar sands have sought legal action repeatedly against tar sands projects, which pose a risk for RBC and its investments. Dave McKay, in your The Globe and Mail op-ed, you said, and I quote, "We are not tackling the climate." Sorry. "We are not tackling climate change fast enough to succeed." My questions are, why then is RBC actively harming our chances of success to adequately address the climate crisis by doubling down on fossil fuel financing? And will RBC commit to ending their continued financing of tar sands projects in hopes of adequately addressing the climate crisis? Thank you.
Thank you very much for that question. Mr. McKay has spent some time today going over RBC's approach to this, and I think has addressed all of the issues that you've raised. We'd be happy to engage again with you further offline, but in the interest of time, I'm going to ask Karen if we could move to the next question in the queue. Karen, please over to you.
Thank you, Katie. We have a question online from David Wu. Would Mr. McKay comment on the current share price of RBC and the factors impacting it since its fifty-two-week high? As well, CIBC had announced a two-for-one stock split. I'm curious if RBC had plans on the same and at what price target.
Thank you for your question, and I think the performance of the stock, we're very proud of our total shareholder return rankings. In the last 3 and 5 years, the stock has performed very well because of the growth and the health and the investment we've made in our client franchises. You heard that in my speech, and I won't go through all the detail, but it's always investing in the future, always creating new value for clients, streamlining operations and managing from a client-centric perspective has driven our outperformance in 2021 and our sustained outperformance over the last five and 10-year period.
As far as your question around the stock price, the absolute value of the stock, and whether we would consider doing a stock split, I think the economic theory around that, it doesn't create in itself shareholder value. You know, historically when there were less avenues and we didn't have ETFs and the stock price could be a barrier to retail investors accessing the stock of RBC or any other company, splitting made the stock more accessible and therefore could lead to more investors coming into the stock.
That's not the case with so many investment options and fractional capabilities today through all the investment products that we have. From that perspective, it doesn't create, in our view, necessarily shareholder value. Having said that, we do review this from time to time, and it's a decision that we will take up with the board of directors over time, and that's all I can comment on today.
Thank you, Dave. We've had a very full exchange today on many important topics, including RBC's approach to a just and orderly energy transition, a range of concerns, both general and specific, from our very valued Indigenous communities, among many others. There are still some questions remaining in the queue, which seem to be on topics that are similar to those that have already been addressed. At this point in the meeting, I'm going to suggest that we take those offline and we look forward to engaging with each of you individually to anything we might have not covered specifically in your question. As I said, in general themes, Mr. Mackay spent a lot of time today on the major topics and we see the queue.
There are a few more on the same topic, which we can take offline. Thank you so much. Before we close, on behalf of the board and our shareholders, I'd like to once again express sincere appreciation to RBC employees whose dedication and commitment to the success of our clients continues to be a true competitive advantage. More specifically, I would like to sincerely thank the many RBC-ers who've worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this annual meeting possible, including those who are at home isolating today. I'd also like to thank Dave McKay and his senior executive team for their values-led leadership, their focus on environmental and social matters, and their commitment to helping our clients thrive and our communities prosper. Your ongoing leadership will ensure an enduring legacy and build long-term value for all our stakeholders.
To our shareholders, thank you all for being with us today. Until we meet again, we wish you good health to you, your families, and your communities. The meeting is now concluded. [Foreign language] Merci pour votre participation. Thank you.
Thank you for your participation.