Years late, London's 'game-changer' subway line set to open


Thu, May 12, 2022, 



LONDON (AP) — Andy Byford points out the cathedral-like ceiling, the crystal-clear acoustics, the “pureness of the aesthetic” that surrounds him.

The head of London’s public transport system is rhapsodizing about a subway station — part of a new line he says will be “the envy of the world” when it opens this month.

“It really gives people a sense of grandeur, but there is also a sense of calm,” said Byford as he showed journalists around Liverpool Street Station on London’s gleaming new east-west Elizabeth Line, due to open on May 24.

The 19 billion-pound ($23 billion) mixed overground and underground railway, named in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, is three-and-a-half years late and 4 billion pounds ($5 billion) over budget. But Byford says it will be “a game-changer” for Britain’s pandemic-scarred capital city.

“I think when it opens it is going to be a huge morale boost for London, post-COVID," said Byford, who is commissioner of Transport for London. "What could be a greater symbol of London’s emergence from COVID than this spectacular railway?”

Yet there’s a question mark over whether London still needs the Elizabeth Line.

Since ground was first broken on the project — also known as Crossrail — in 2009, London has been through recession, a rocky British exit from the European Union and a coronavirus pandemic that shut down the city for months and transformed work and travel patterns, potentially for good.

Tony Travers, a professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the Elizabeth Line “is a remarkable and beautiful thing.”

“But it was built — after a lot of effort and over a very long period of time — for a different economy,” he said. “Its entire economic case was very heavily predicated on the continued growth of the economy of central London.”

Britain’s biggest infrastructure project for decades, the new line involved digging 26 miles (42 kilometers) of new tunnels under Europe’s biggest city — uncovering 68,000-year-old mammoth bones, Roman ruins and the skeletons of medieval plague victims along the way.

It was scheduled to open in late 2018. But with just months to go the launch was postponed, and then postponed again as workers struggled to finish 10 new stations and link up three separate signalling systems on the western, central and eastern stretches of the 60-mile (100-kilometer) railway.

In 2020, the builders turned to Byford, a veteran public transport executive who ran the Toronto Transit Commission and then the transit authority in New York, where he was nicknamed “Train Daddy” as he grappled with the Big Apple’s often frustrating subway and bus systems.

Byford has staked his reputation on getting the Elizabeth Line up and running.

“It’s had its challenges,” he acknowledged. “This has been a labor of love for us. We’ve sweated blood over this thing.”

The largely underground central section from Paddington Station in west London to Abbey Wood in the southeast opens to paying customers this month, days before the U.K. celebrates the queen’s Platinum Jubilee, though it won’t be fully integrated with the aboveground eastern and western legs until the fall.

Builders say the Elizabeth Line will provide a speedy new link between Heathrow Airport west of London, the City financial district in the center and the Canary Wharf business hub in the east.

For anyone who has ridden London’s cramped Underground, parts of which are more than 150 years old, the scale of the new line is a pleasant shock. The spacious trains can carry more than 1,000 passengers each. They are also air conditioned, something that’s a rarity on London’s sweaty Tube. The tunnels seem to curve on forever and the stations soar — Paddington is 10 stories high and as long as the Shard, London’s tallest skyscraper.

Crossrail’s builders are proud of the attention to detail, from the purple patterned fabric on the train seats to the playful station design touches, like a ceiling of Liverpool Street Station in the City that is striped to evoke a banker’s pinstriped suit. Lighting is cool in the concourse, warm on the platforms — a “nudge” to subtly encourage people towards the trains.

The Elizabeth Line opens in a city, and country, facing economic uncertainty, with the war in Ukraine fueling record inflation and the city center still quieter than before the pandemic as many officers work at least part time from home. The line's expected ridership has been scaled back from a predicted 250 million people a year before the pandemic, to about 200 million a year.

The transit network, London's circulatory system, needs even more investment. But Britain’s Conservative government is focused on spreading economic opportunity from the wealthy south of England to the poorer Midlands and north, and is reluctant to spend money on the capital city — especially since London is a stronghold of the opposition Labour Party.

A planned Crossrail 2 that would slice through London from southwest to northeast is on hold, though Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild hopes it will be completed one day.

He is certain the new line will help get London back on track.

“If there’s ever going to be a railway that’s pandemic-proof, it’s this one,” Wild said. “It’s airy, fast, the stations are cathedral-like, the air’s fresh. It’s modern, clean. If there’s ever a railway that can stimulate a return to the office, it’s going to be this one.”

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press

Sweden sees highest inflation rate since 1991

Thu, May 12, 2022, 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Inflation in Sweden increased last month to its highest level since 1991, officials said Thursday, as countries worldwide grapple with surging prices exacerbated by Russia's war in Ukraine.

The consumer price index rose 6.4% in April from a year ago and was up from 6.1% in March, according to official figures from Statistics Sweden.

There was a “continued widespread price increase in April, including food, household equipment, restaurant visits and hotels,” statistician Mikael Nordin said.

High energy prices also were fueling inflation, a key factor in the rest of Europe and other parts of the world amid fears that the war may lead to an interruption of oil or natural gas supplies from Russia.

Statistics Sweden said food prices increased, with meat and vegetables being “the primarily contributors” for the hike. Clothing and books saw seasonal price increases, while furnishing and household equipment prices “have now risen for six consecutive months.”

Prices also increased for home repairs and maintenance, transportation and other goods and services, the agency said.

Sweden, a member of the European Union, is not among the 19 countries that use the euro currency. Annual inflation in the eurozone hit a record-high 7.5% last month.

The U.S. saw consumer prices jump 8.3% last month from a year ago, remaining close to four-decade high.

The Associated Press

Why the Fed wants corporate America to have a hiring freeze: Morning Brief

Ethan Wolff-Mann

·Chief-of-staff

Thu, May 12, 2022, 

The chorus of those wanting a weaker labor market is getting louder and louder.

After the recent job numbers were released last week, Bank of America analysts said in a note they are essentially "rooting against the home team" and hope the numbers stop being so strong. As higher wages contribute to inflation, the Federal Reserve appears to agree.

“Chair Powell keeps mentioning the relationship between the high level of job openings and wage/price inflation,” Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek, wrote in a newsletter on Tuesday. “He’s not talking to investors. He’s talking to corporate America, and his goal is to have companies essentially institute a hiring freeze and end the cycle of paying up for new hires.”

Wednesday's economic release of consumer prices (CPI) showed inflation rose more slowly in April (8.3%) compared to March (8.5%). While the report was expected to have shown a March peak, there wasn't much good news.

"[Substantial] declines in the annual rate of inflation are unlikely to materialize until there are significant improvements in geopolitical tensions (that would get energy prices lower), supply chain strains and labour market shortages," wrote ING's James Knightley in a note after the release. "Unfortunately, there is little sign of any of this happening anytime soon."

TD Securities analysts agreed, noting the "report should be of concern for the Fed given price gains in the core segment appear to be spreading."

According to the consensus view of economists and analysts, shocks to commodities, supply chain issues, and the red hot (and very tight) labor market are all keeping inflation high and unpleasant. But it's the labor market that appears hardest to vanquish.

While supply-chain problems and big price shocks have been easing, "we see no such let-up when it comes to labor cost pressure," Bank of America's global economist Ethan S. Harris pointed out. Employers can't find people to fill open positions, tons of people are changing jobs, and "looking ahead there is no sign of stabilization."

In Colas's view, the only way to get stabilize inflation is to use the monetary policy hammer to hit stock prices.

“The Fed’s goal is to convince corporate America to enact a short-term hiring freeze, and it will keep raising rates and talking about aggressive monetary policy until that happens,” Colas wrote. “Lower stock prices are his way of convincing C-suites and boards to do that.”

The Fed's 'blunt force tool of rate policy'

Powell has been focused on the ratio between job openings versus unemployed workers and the core personal consumption expenditures price index, which measures inflation.

“Chair Powell mentioned the ratio several times at last Wednesday’s press conference,” said Colas, who said job postings need to drop from 11.5 million to around 8 million to get to normalcy.

The only way to get there would be some sort of freeze from companies.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies during the Senate Banking Committee hearing titled "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress", in Washington, U.S., March 3, 2022. Tom Williams/Pool via REUTERS

“[Freezes] typically [happen] when C-suites and boards decide that business conditions have become very uncertain. The Fed doesn’t have a seat at those discussions, but it does have the blunt force tool of rate policy and its effect on stock prices,” Colas said. “Chair Powell has made it clear that he wants to see openings decline.”

The big question is by how much — and whether it will be enough to whip out the “R” word?

Harris wrote if the strength stays at the 200,000 openings per month pace we’ve seen, “the Fed will need to push job growth down to ~25k per month.”

But, Harris added, “If the labor force has slowed to a more trend-like 100k then they will need to push job growth to negative 70k. That is, they would need to trigger a mild recession.”

WAGE THEFT
South Carolina restaurant repays $624,000 to staff after tip pool is ruled illegal

Grace Dean
Thu, May 12, 2022

The restaurant told Insider that a lawyer had previously told it that its tip pool policy was legal and appropriate.

Davit85/Getty Images

A South Carolina restaurant required staff to share tips with managers illegally, the DOL said.


The restaurant said a lawyer had advised that its tip pool policy was legal and appropriate.


It paid $624,017 in back wages to 92 workers after the DOL investigation.

A seafood restaurant in South Carolina has repaid $624,000 to workers after the Department of Labor found it had forced them to share tips with other staff.

The Charleston restaurant, 167 Raw, "shortchanged" 92 workers by "forcing them to participate in an illegal tip pool" that included management and other employees who did not usually get tips, the department said in a press release.

The repayment equates to around $6,700 per worker.

Managers and supervisors are not allowed to keep their workers' tips "under any circumstances," including through tip pools, per the Fair Labor Standards Act.

US employers can pay tipped staff as little as $2.13 an hour, with tips bringing their take-home pay up to a minimum of $7.25 an hour.

Because the restaurant required the staff to share tips illegally, it invalidated its claim to a tip credit and therefore meant workers were paid less than the federal minimum wage, the DOL said.

Following the investigation, 167 Raw was ordered to pay $624,017 in back wages to the 92 staff.

167 Raw King Street LLC, which owns the restaurant in Charleston along with two others, said it entered into a voluntary agreement with the DOL over its tipping policy.

The company told Insider that before setting up the tip pool it had been advised by lawyers that the move was legal.

"Months later, however, the Department of Labor concluded that these procedures were in direct violation of certain federal guidelines. The department began a full investigation and determined that while we had not intentionally violated any regulation, we had instead relied upon incorrect legal advice," the company said.

167 Raw King Street said it cooperated with the DOL to establish new procedures and corrected the "misallocation of tips." The company's owners never took part in the tip pool, it added.

Millions of restaurant workers have quit their jobs during the pandemic, with many blaming the industry's low wages, lack of benefits, and poor working conditions. In March alone, 810,000 workers in the food services and accommodation sector quit their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jamie Benefiel, a DOL official in Columbia, South Carolina, said: "As food service industry employers struggle to find people to fill the jobs needed to remain competitive, they must take into account that retaining and recruiting workers is more difficult when employers fail to respect workers' rights and pay them their full wages."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M PAYES

A Moderna exec will be paid $700,000 despite leaving his job after 1 day, a report says


Stephen Jones
Thu, May 12, 2022

Jorge Gomez is one of a number senior executives to leave the vaccine maker in recent months.

SOPA Images / Contributor / Getty Images

Moderna's CFO Jorge Gomez will be paid $700,000, despite spending only one day in his new job.


Gomez left after his former employer notified the SEC that it was investigating financial reporting.


He will, however, forfeit his $500,000 signing bonus, Moderna told the Wall Street Journal.

A senior executive will be paid $700,000 in severance, despite only spending a day in his new job at vaccine maker Moderna, reports suggest.

On Wednesday, the pharmaceutical giant announced that its chief financial officer, Jorge Gomez, had departed the company "effective immediately," following a disclosure by his former employer that it's investigating financial misreporting.

Gomez formally began his role on Monday, a month after leaving his role as CFO at the dentistry manufacturer, Dentsply Sirona. Despite his early departure, he will still receive his annual salary of $700,000 as part of his severance package, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting Moderna. He will, however, forfeit his $500,000 signing bonus, per the report.

It's extremely rare for an executive to leave a firm within such a short period. Listed firms go to great lengths to properly vet candidates, as part of their due diligence. The process can take many months and usually involves background checks. The nature of Gomez's departure poses questions over how rigorously this process was performed.

Moderna told the FT that it was made aware of the internal investigation, following Dentsply's disclosure, made in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday.

In March 2022, Dentsply's board of directors began an investigation into allegations surrounding the financial reporting of the use of incentives to sell its products, as well as the disclosure of the impact on sales, according to the filing.

The audit committee is also investigating "former and current members of senior management" over allegations that they used these incentives to affect executive compensation.

The investigation does not name Gomez specifically. In April, Dentsply terminated its former CEO Donald Casey and removed him from the board, but did not disclose why.

Gomez's predecessor, David Meline, will resume his position while the firm searches for a replacement, Moderna said in a statement.

Gomez was expected to play a key role in the drug maker's ESG and sustainability efforts as it enters a new phase of growth following the commercial success of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

Moderna, Dentsply, and Gomez are yet to respond to Insider's request for comment, which was made outside of US business hours.

Bank of England Adds Anti-Brexit Trade Expert to Rate-Setting Panel

David Goodman and Philip Aldrick
Thu, May 12, 2022


(Bloomberg) -- 

Swati Dhingra, a trade specialist and a vocal critic of Brexit, will join the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and bring the number of women on the panel to the most since 2005.

Dhingra, an economics professor at the London School of Economics, will start work at the UK central bank on Aug. 9, succeeding Michael Saunders, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said in a statement on Thursday.

She will join a central bank at the vanguard of global interest-rate increases, with the BOE in the midst of its fastest tightening cycle since it gained independence as officials try to arrest inflation forecast to top 10% later this year.

Her appointment adds a trade expert to the BOE’s ranks as the UK tries to navigate a economy beset with supply-chain issues and continuing fallout following its exit from the European Union.

Dhingra’s position on monetary policy isn’t known, but could prove pivotal as the MPC tries to strike a balance between tackling inflation and supporting growth. Saunders, who she is replacing, is currently the most hawkish member of the committee and was in a minority seeking a half-point rate increase this month rather than the quarter-point move that transpired.

“Swati Dhingra’s experience in international economics will bring valuable new expertise to the MPC,” Sunak said. BOE Governor Andrew Bailey also highlighted that the institution would “benefit from her extensive research in international economics.”

Dhingra has been a critic of Brexit, and in 2019 wrote an article for UK in a Changing Europe entitled “UK economy since Brexit vote: slower growth, lower productivity, weaker pound.”

Writing in the London Review of Books in 2017, she said that “counting on future trade deals with countries like China, India and the US to replace our existing economic ties to the EU is wishful thinking.”

The appointment brings the number of women on the nine-member MPC to three, along with Catherine Mann and Silvana Tenreyro. That’s the highest number since 2005, and the most the panel has ever had in its 25-year existence.

Exclusive: Ontario Teachers to invest up to $1 billion in Macquarie offshore wind unit



The logo of Australia's Macquarie Group adorns a desk in the reception area of its Sydney office headquarters

Isla Binnie and Susanna Twidale
Thu, May 12, 2022

MADRID/LONDON (Reuters) - Major Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has agreed to invest up to $1 billion in a new offshore wind business launched by Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd to develop projects around the world, the companies told Reuters on Thursday.

Soaring numbers of turbines planted off windy coastlines account for a large chunk of the renewable energy capacity targets set by countries such as the United States and Britain as part of a global drive to reduce planet-warming carbon emissions.

Pension and infrastructure funds often buy stakes in renewable energy generation projects, tempted by the predictable long-term returns, but it is less common for them to assume the risk of projects that have either not yet been built or not yet secured agreements from consumers to buy their power.

Under a deal with Macquarie's newly launched offshore wind developer, Corio Generation, Ontario Teachers' will invest up to $1 billion into the development of 14 fixed-bottom and floating wind farms in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Ireland and Britain, representing around 9 gigawatts of capacity.

Chris Ireland, Ontario Teachers’ managing director for Greenfield Investments and Renewables told Reuters there were benefits to getting involved earlier along in the process.

"It allows us to get access to good projects, that we can invest in for the long term without being in competition with others," he said.

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is one of Canada's biggest pension funds, managing total assets worth around $185 billion.

With demand in the space fierce, several deals for the acquisition of offshore wind projects have attracted hefty premiums in recent years such as Equinor's sale to BP of a 50% stake in two U.S. wind farms in 2020 which booked the Norwegian firm a $1 billion profit.

Denmark's Orsted last month agreed to sell half of the 1.3 GW Hornsea 2 project in Britain, to a French consortium for 3 billion pounds ($3.69 billion).

“The economics of doing development can be more attractive than buying operating projects," Ireland said.

Competition is increasing in the sector as governments around the world push to reduce carbon emissions from their power grids and reduce reliance on energy imports from Russia.

"We are almost at the start of an exponential growth curve," Corio Chief Executive Jonathan Cole told Reuters.

Europe, one of the leading regions for offshore wind invested 41 billion euros ($43.21 billion) in new wind farms in 2021, data from WindEurope showed.

($1 = 0.9489 euros)

($1 = 0.8123 pounds)

(Reporting By Isla Binnie in Madrid and Susanna Twidale in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

‘We’re very excited’: Canada’s clean energy firms eye soaring EU electricity prices

Jeff Lagerquist
Wed, May 11, 2022,

The European Union is reportedly preparing fast-track permits for clean energy projects to help replace Russian fossil fuels. REUTERS/Andreas Mortensen

Canadian clean energy producers say they’re benefiting from European electricity rates that prompted some governments to roll out measures to shield consumers and businesses from rising prices.

Kingsey Falls, Que.-based Boralex (BLX.TO) and Toronto-based Northland Power (NPI.TO) reported first-quarter financial results on Wednesday. In both cases, management noted the dual impacts of high electricity rates in Europe, as well as the push among nations on the continent to sever energy ties to Russia.

“We’re very excited about the new opportunities that are arising as a result of rising electricity prices, and the European push for energy security,” Northland CEO Mike Crawley told analysts on a post-earnings conference call on Wednesday. He said “higher market prices” from its Gemini wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands helped the company top analyst expectations in its latest quarter.

Boralex CEO Patrick Decostre pointed to a “sharp rise in energy prices” in France, mainly attributed to extended outages at many of the country’s nuclear reactors. The company is France’s largest independent producer of onshore wind power with more than 60 farms in operation scattered across the country, according to company’s website.

“The other good news is that the price in the UK has also increased a lot. So the demand for electricity is even higher,” Decostre said on a call with analysts. Boralex has plans for a 90 megawatt wind project in the highlands of Scotland.

EU nations including Germany, France, Italy and Spain have announced plans to cut taxes or issue rebates in a bid to soften the blow of higher energy prices. At the same time, the 27-member bloc is reportedly preparing fast-track permits for renewable projects to help replace Russian fossil fuels.

“Countries such as Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands have specifically higher targets for off-shore wind,” Crawley said. “Northland is well-positioned, we believe, to achieve these objectives.”

Toronto-listed Northland shares climbed 1.81 per cent to $38.34 at 1:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Boralex added 1.66 per cent to $38.04.

Scotiabank no longer a member of oil and gas lobby group CAPP


Wed, May 11, 2022



CALGARY — Scotiabank is no longer a member of the oil and gas lobby group Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

The bank has had a long-running relationship with CAPP and was the title sponsor of the group's annual energy symposium for many years.

Scotiabank declined to provide a reason for its exit, but confirmed in an email that it did not renew its associate membership in CAPP in 2022.

Scotiabank was the only major Canadian bank to hold a membership in CAPP.

At its most recent annual general meeting last month, Scotiabank came under fire from shareholders for not moving fast enough on climate change.

Greenpeace activists also attempted to disrupt the meeting, criticizing Scotiabank for its membership in CAPP and its financing of the fossil fuels sector.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BNS)

The Canadian Press

Canada banks face 'greenwashing' claims as oil & gas firms obtain sustainable financing

 

 Power-generating windmill turbines are seen during sunset in Bourlon

 A male elk crosses the Yellowhead Highway in Jasper National Park, Alberta


Nichola Saminather
Thu, May 12, 2022,

TORONTO (Reuters) - For banks in Canada, one of the world's largest oil producers, it's not easy being green.

In the past two years, Canadian banks have increased the amount of sustainability-linked financing (SLF) they extend to oil and gas clients. SLF refers to financing whose cost changes when certain environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements are met at the company level but does not require the funds themselves to be used for climate-friendly purposes.

This has led to accusations of "greenwashing," with some environmental groups and investors claiming banks are using SLF merely to pretend to lower their carbon footprint rather than take meaningful steps in that direction.

If the use of financing instruments that do not require a reduction in overall carbon emissions keeps growing, it could delay banks' readiness for Canada's transition to a low-carbon economy, leading to higher risk and increased capital requirements to offset these.

The central bank and financial regulator have already warned that a lack of preparedness by the banks could expose them and investors to "sudden and large losses."

"This is a dangerous path to go down," said Angus Wong, campaign strategist at nonprofit environmental group SumOfUs, which represents thousands of Canadian bank investors. "These are just loans and bonds and adding one word like 'sustainability' and adding it to sustainable financing numbers ... really smacks of greenwashing."

The issue is especially pertinent in Canada, where SLF accounts for a bigger proportion of all sustainable financing than globally, as it offers a green option for the country’s extractive industries that typically cannot use more specific tools like so-called green bonds.

Sustainable financing is mostly made up of two kinds of products: SLF, and use-of-proceeds tools like green bonds, which must be utilized for environmentally friendly activities.

But the flexibility of the former means the financing terms can even allow for increases to emissions, which many critics say enables heavy emitters to lay a false veneer of sustainability over business as usual.

Many of the banks - including Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal - have said that an orderly transition to a net-zero economy could take years and that the oil and gas industry needs ongoing support to meet continued demand as energy alternatives such as wind and solar are developed.

Net-zero emissions refers to the goal of emitting no greenhouse gases through human activities or offsetting them through processes or technologies that capture them before they are released into the atmosphere.

With increased focus on the transition to net-zero emissions, the use globally of sustainability-linked instruments (SLIs) more than quadrupled in 2021, according to Refinitiv data. In Canada's nascent market, their use grew nearly 20 times from 2020.

Sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) have made up 11.2% of all sustainable bonds in Canada since the start of 2021, versus 9.8% globally, according to Refinitiv data. Energy companies issued a third of this.

Canadian companies' nearly $31 billion of sustainability-linked loans (SLLs) accounted for 90% of all sustainable loans in the same period, compared with 85% globally. Traditional energy companies made up 10% of these in Canada, from none in 2020.

Although Canadian banks do not currently face charges for funding high emitters, authorities have said climate disclosures will be required from 2024 and have hinted at future capital requirements.

'GOLD RUSH MENTALITY'

Canada is the world's fourth-biggest oil producer and sixth-largest natural gas producer, with the industry accounting for about 5% of gross domestic product.

Canadian banks, among the biggest Banking on Climate Chaosfinanciers of fossil fuels globally, are treading a fine line between their net-zero commitments and their pledges to continue supporting oil and gas clients.

The banks are incentivized to boost sustainable financing numbers because the government's C$9.1 billion emissions reduction plan and the growing popularity of green financing have created a "gold rush" mentality, said Matt Price, director of corporate engagement for Investors for Paris Compliance (IPC).

Recent SLB issuances by pipeline operator Enbridge Inc and oil producer Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd have shone a spotlight on the issue.

Their SLBs had two features that often draw criticism: a focus on cuts to emissions per unit of production, called intensity targets, rather than total emissions, and the absence of reduction targets for the biggest source of emissions, indirect ones from the company's value chain, called Scope 3 emissions.

Tamarack's issuance, as well as a previous SLL facility, funded acquisitions that would increase its oil production.

The use of intensity targets over absolute ones is due to continued growth in end-demand in some sectors like power, said Lindsay Patrick, head of ESG at RBC Capital Markets.

Scope 3 emissions are omitted from many companies' reduction goals because of a lack of data accuracy, methodology differences and little control over end demand, she said.

As regulatory focus grows, "we will all just become much more fluent in the language of greenhouse gas emissions," which will lead to better alignment of what ESG-focused investors want and what companies provide, Patrick said.

Canada's other major banks either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

If an oil company commits only to reducing the emissions intensity of its operations, which would exclude Scope 3 emissions, "we would not consider that to be a credible sustainability-linked instrument," said Kevin Ranney, senior vice president of corporate solutions at Sustainalytics.

"A credible SLB needs to include at least one (requirement) that points to the transition of the company's business model," he said.

Intensity-based targets are a "valid and recognized" way to reduce emissions, allowing the company to focus first on improving its assets' efficiency, an Enbridge spokesperson said, adding its 2050 target is focused on absolute emissions.

There is no current guidance on what constitutes Scope 3 emissions for the midstream sector, he said.

Tamarack did not respond to a request for comment.

To be sure, most bank investors do not oppose the provision of sustainable financing to traditional energy companies. A shareholder proposal brought by IPC at Royal Bank's April shareholder meeting calling for an end to the practice received only 9% of votes in favor.

"Canada has an oil and gas industry that needs significant injection of capital in order to reduce its emissions," said Jamie Bonham, NEI Investments' director of corporate engagement.

Nevertheless, "I don't think it should all be ... included in the same (sustainable financing) bucket," he said. "The current blurring of the lines ... is what is leading to claims of greenwashing."

($1 = 1.3019 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Nichola Saminather in Toronto; Additional reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary and Simon Jessop in London; Editing by Denny Thomas and Matthew Lewis)