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As First Nation Canadians protest at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s AGM, campaigners say the UK state-owned bank is ‘playing fast and loose’ with taxpayers money Should a state-owned bank be involved in investments that damage the environment, in contradiction to the aims of that state ? Clearly not, but that is the charge made against the Royal Bank of Scotland by campaigners opposed to its work in funding the oil sands industry in Alberta. Their protests move to RBS’s annual general meeting today in Edinburgh, with the arrival of First Nation representatives from Canada, who say their ancestral lands are being devastated . Extracting oil from tar sands also leads to more emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide than conventional oil. The coalition of NGOs say RBS has raised £5.6bn of corporate finance for companies involved in tar sands extraction since being rescued from oblivion by UK taxpayers in 2008. And there’s been no let up – £1.3bn has been raised in the last six months. Companies named include BP, Total and Statoil, all involved in tar sands extraction, Marathon, which refines the oil, and Enbridge and Kinder Morgan, who want to build a new pipeline to carry the oil from Alberta to the west coast. Clayton Thomas-Muller, from Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and who is attending the AGM, said: “Banks have been put on notice for their dirty finance of the Canadian tar sands which is resulting in the destruction of First Nations Peoples’ way of life.” RBS counters that it provides only general corporate finance to companies with wide interests beyond tar sands, but declined to provide alternative figures. A spokeswoman added: “We recognise the concerns raised regarding the extraction of oil sands and our lending is subject to the achievement of strict social and environmental standards. We agree that there is a need to transition to a low carbon economy. In recent years RBS has been one of the most active banks in the world in helping support the development of renewable energies.” So that’s OK then? No, says campaigner Liz Murray, of the World Development Movement. She told me: “We congratulate them for [their renewables investments] but that does not offset the fact that they are massive financers of fossil fuels, and in particular tar sands.” “Investment in some of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuels in the world is not a sound investment,” Murray said. “As a UK taxpayer – and so an owner of RBS – I think they are playing fast and loose with my money.” If you are also a UK taxpayer, are you feeling short-changed? Royal Bank of Scotland Oil sands Oil Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk