Toward a Royal Bank of Sustainability

That the Parliament notes that, for more than a year, the British taxpayer via UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI) has been the largest shareholder in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS); welcomes the Royal Bank of Sustainability report, published by Friends of the Earth Scotland, Platform, World Development Movement, People and Planet and BankTrack, as an important contribution to the debate on the future of RBS and other bailed-out banks; believes that HM Treasury could play a key role in guiding RBS and the other bailed-out banks away from investments considered environmentally damaging and socially destructive, such as tar-sands, and toward more ethical investments urgently needed by Scotland and the United Kingdom; considers the business case for reorienting RBS’s strategy to be strong and sound; believes that, by acting as responsible owners, HM Treasury and UKFI can begin turning the bank into a powerhouse for renewables and decarbonisation, which would be good for the economy as well as the climate; encourages the Chancellor of the Exchequer to require UKFI to incorporate the highest social and environmental standards into its investment mandate, ownership policies and practices, and calls on the UKFI to demand full disclosure by publicly supported banks on the impacts of their investments on communities, workers and the environment.