Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, the financial institution has a gender-balanced board of directors where six out of 13 members are women and representation where 40% are women. Additionally, Royal Bank of Canada discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member including sustainability- and non-sustainability-related organisations.

As a member of Net Zero Banking Alliance, Royal Bank of Canada has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It discloses the key sectors it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, and the rationale for choosing these priorities. Furthermore, as a member of Climate Action 100+, Royal Bank of Canada discloses that it collectively engages with its clients on the topic of climate change. It also discloses the aggregate amount and share of finance it devotes to climate solutions while specifying what these solutions are. While doing so, its climate solutions are defined according to an internationally adopted framework. Additionally, the Bank discloses absolute financed emissions and the underlying data quality and coverage of its financed emissions.

Royal Bank of Canada discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category and the amount of finance it directs towards SMEs. Royal Bank of Canada has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals, stakeholders and communities to raise human rights or bribery corruption complaints and concerns. Besides, it has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, Royal Bank of Canada has an opportunity to assign responsibility for sustainability to the group’s Board of Directors and link the remuneration of its executive and management teams to sustainability performance criteria. Furthermore, the financial institution could disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. The Bank could disclose the actions taken to address any pay gaps. It has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees.

Royal Bank of Canada could disclose interim emissions reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. It also has an opportunity to specify that it engages with companies on the topic of 1.5°C alignment, rather that climate change generally. The financial institution could disclose that it requires companies to which it provides financial services to have a strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement. Additionally, Royal Bank of Canada has an opportunity to disclose time-bound targets explicitly for its climate solutions and progress against the targets it has set for these solutions.

There is no evidence that Royal Bank of Canada has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights laid out in the UN Guiding Principles. Therefore, it has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts through its relevant financing activities. Despite the fact that the financial institution discloses the ages of its board members, it could also disclose this information for each employee category. Furthermore, the Bank has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards low-income developing countries.