Major Canadian banks’ digital emissions stay massive while they disclose less and less

Early 2025 some of Canada's largest banks– including those with the highest digital emissions and the greatest responsibility – withdrew from Net Zero Asset Management Initiative.

These large institutions, whose digital carbon footprint is disproportionately large, cited regulatory complexity and competitive pressures in favor of their departure. The move has increased questions from investors, politicians and the public about their commitment to sustainable development.

At the same time, Bill C-59Passed at the end of 2024, the law introduced new provisions into the Competition Act aimed at increasing penalties for greenwashing and misleading environmental claims.

The timing is striking: As Ottawa tightens disclosure rules, the same big banks that dominate digital issuance are abandoning voluntary commitments to combat climate change. This tension between voluntary commitment and federal responsibility underscores the growing pressure on financial institutions prove, and not just promote, your environmental indicators.

Digital carbon footprint

For decades, banks have positioned themselves as leaders in sustainability through renewable energy financing and ambitious projects. environmental, social and governance responsibilities. However, their recent withdrawal from climate coalitions – coupled with their huge digital carbon footprint – represents a worrying reversal.

We recently conducted a study of the environmental impacts of nine Canadian banks, including the big five: CIBC, TD Bank, Scotiabank, Royal Bank of Canada and BMO. Our recent study aimed to quantify Banks' environmental impact through their digital carbon footprint.

Banks are pillars of our economy and society, with both the power and responsibility to lead the transition to a more sustainable economy. However, their recent withdrawal from the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, coupled with ongoing concerns about greenwashing, raises legitimate questions about their true commitment to sustainability.

In this context, our goal as researchers is to provide both banking customers and financial institutions with important information about their environmental impact. Understanding the environmental impact of banks' digital operations is important, as this often overlooked aspect makes up a significant portion of their overall carbon footprint.

We analyzed publicly available data going back to 2024 to measure the carbon impact of Canadian banks' digital practices. Our study looked at two main aspects:

1. Website usage (energy consumed during website loading, data transfer and hosting) and;
2. Traffic acquisition, which includes all marketing activities that bring visitors to these sites, such as email marketing, paid advertising. search engine optimization and social media campaigns.

The goal was to compare carbon emissions among different banks, evaluate their performance in one visit and provide transparent information to the public. By identifying the most polluting areas in digital operations, we provide recommendations for improvement.

Activity on social networks

Our research reveals important findings about the environmental impact of Canadian banks' digital technologies. Most strikingly, we found differences in performance: the worst bank emits twice as much carbon dioxide per customer as the best; just three banks account for two-thirds of total emissions.

To clarify, “driving traffic” refers to the process of attracting visitors to a website—whether through paid advertising, organic search results, or social media content. Organic traffic comes from users who naturally find a bank's website through search engines, social media or content marketing, while paid traffic is generated through advertising placements.

Data shows that 77% of digital emissions come from traffic acquisition, while only 23% come from website usage. Paid traffic accounts for 95% of road traffic emissions despite being a small portion of total traffic, while organic traffic accounts for only 5% of emissions.

Paid social networks are particularly problematic, accounting for 58% of emissions but generating only 1% of total traffic.

In other words, social media advertising is extremely carbon inefficient: A visitor coming from an online advertisement emits 418 times more carbon dioxide than a visitor coming from organic sources..

These results indicate that online advertising, especially social media campaigns, are major hidden sources of pollution.

Hidden Source of Pollution

These results show how online advertising-especially social media campaigns – can become the main source digital pollution. The reality is clear: every click has a carbon cost.

Banks can improve their inbound marketing, which is strategies that attract users organically through relevant content, search engine optimization and improved user experience, rather than through paid advertising.

Transparency and sustainable digital practices are essential for greener banking—practices that reduce emissions without compromising innovation or competitiveness.

Following the exit from the Net Zero Asset Management Initiative and the continued government commitment to net zero assets, many banks continue to generate significant emissions as a result of their digital operations.

This raises a critical question for regulators, investors and consumers alike: will banks use their significant resources to promote sustainability or continue to delay meaningful action?

Our next study will assess whether these institutions are living up to their commitments or continuing with their current practices despite the growing climate agenda.

Victor Pruto, who at the time of the study was a Master of Science. student at HEC Montréal, co-author of this article.

This article has been republished from Talk under Creative Commons license. Read original article.