(Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Canada’s annual shareholder meeting was dominated by questions about its financing of fossil-fuel businesses as dozens of protesters rallied outside the gathering. 

The meeting on Thursday featured ramped-up security and strictly enforced rules — including a limit of 60 seconds of speaking time per questioner — and was convened at a conference center in suburban Toronto rather than in the city’s downtown core, where it has been held in the past.  

A delegation of Indigenous and climate activists, many of whom traveled from across Canada and parts of the US to attend the event and ask questions as proxy holders, said during a press conference later that they didn’t feel heard or respected during the meeting. 

The format was meant to ensure more people had the chance to ask a question, said Jacynthe Cote, chair of Royal Bank’s board. After several complaints about the time limits, she said the company would evaluate how it worked and consider changes for next year’s meeting.

“This whole group around me is trying to say we’re bringing a voice of nature,” US tribal-rights attorney and climate activist Tara Houska said during the meeting. She questioned Royal Bank Chief Executive Officer Dave McKay about the bank’s commitment to “moving away from fossil fuels.”

“I couldn’t agree more that we need to continue to evolve our energy strategy,” McKay responded. “What we’re debating as a society is how we do that and at what pace. We know there’s an urgency to that as well.”

Read More: Canada’s RBC Struggles to Go Green While Financing Oil

McKay cited a climate report the bank published in March, which included new disclosures on some of its clients’ carbon emissions as well as a commitment by the bank to triple its annual financing of renewable-energy projects to C$15 billion ($11 billion) by 2030 and increase its overall low-carbon lending to C$35 billion by that year.

Royal Bank also agreed last week to disclose a ratio of how much financing it provides for clean-energy projects relative to fossil fuels. That was in response to a shareholder resolution by a group of New York City retirement plans and the city’s comptroller, which subsequently withdrew the proposal.

Read More: NYC Pensions Reach Deal With RBC on Green-Funding Disclosure

Dozens of protesters who weren’t either proxy holders or shareholders rallied in the rain outside the sprawling grounds of the Toronto Congress Centre, where the meeting was held. 

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.