Bank to retrofit 62% of branches to heat pumps
19th July 2024
CANADA: The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has announced a multi-million-dollar retrofit of its branches in Canada to low-carbon heating and cooling systems such as heat pumps.
The bank says it will invest $35m over three years in the first phase, replacing aging HVAC equipment.
RBC will first begin to convert the 62% of branches where it is responsible for HVAC, aiming to accelerate this work to be completed by 2035. It says it will continue to work on electrification with landlord partners in the remaining locations. The bulk of the retrofit programme is planned to begin in spring 2025.
With approximately 40% of the bank’s operational carbon emissions stemming from its retail locations across Canada, updating the HVAC equipment is expected to reduce total branch emissions by 70%.
The initiative will help accelerate the operational goals outlined in the bank’s Climate Report 2023 by reducing RBC’s own global GHG emissions and increase sourcing of electricity from renewable sources.
Jon Douglas, director of global sustainability at RBC, says the bank has embarked upon an outreach programme to understand its landlords’ climate targets and to “look for ways where both parties can work together in achieving mutually desirable goals.”
With 22,000,000ft2 of real estate, most of it leased from 500 landlords, Douglas anticipates engagement will “help drive more climate action in the real estate sector.” He went on to say the bank is already in collaboration with a landlord of a flagship property to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions at the office site by 2040.
