UPDATES

 

Left: Roger Beauchemin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Addenda Capital, spoke with Maxime Lakat, a student at McGill University and Co-President of the Desautels Sustainability Network at the Colloque québécois de l’investissement responsable 2019 organized by PRI Québec. They discussed the importance of developing a true vision for the future of the financial industry that takes into account carbon emission reduction and ESG. Right: Brian Minns, Vice-President, Sustainable Investing at Addenda Capital, discussed the need for increased mandatory ESG disclosure in Canada as well as the challenges and opportunities posed by ESG data and research at the 2019 Toronto Refinitiv Summit. The panel drew distinctions between “socially responsible investing,” “sustainable investing” and “ESG investing.”

 

Brian Minns also gave a speech on sustainable investing at the Investment Industry Association of Canada’s inaugural Green Bond Conference and the 39th Annual Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies Convention.

In October, he received a Canada’s 2020 Clean50 Individual award from Delta Management Group, a leading sustainability and clean tech search firm. The award recognizes Addenda Capital’s achievements in sustainable investing. From helping clients deploy over $1 billion into impact investments with compelling returns and measurable effects on society and the environment to encouraging enhanced climate-related financial disclosure, Addenda is a tireless champion of sustainable and impact investing within the investment community.

 

Sustainable Investing at Addenda Capital
We define “sustainable investing” as an investing approach that integrates consideration of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters into investment and stewardship activities with the objective of enhancing long-term investment performance for our clients and promoting sustainable development for society. Below you will find examples of sustainable investing undertaken by Addenda Capital during the past quarter.

 

FIRM-WIDE INITIATIVES


PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE FINANCIAL MARKETS — RAISING STANDARDS

Letter in Support of the Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance’s Recommendations?
In December we co-signed a letter to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Finance, Environment & Climate Change, Natural Resources and Infrastructure & Communities to show support for the Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance’s recommendations. The Co-operators and Addenda Capital led the initiative among Canadian members of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative. The letter was signed by the CEOs of many large Canadian financial institutions.

CSA Technical Committee
Addenda Capital joined the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) technical committee for Defining Green and Transition Finance for Canada. The committee is working on developing a “Canadian-specific National Standard of Canada for ‘Green and Transition Finance’ which will define Green and In Transition sectors in Canada, enabling these sectors to be recognized in global green and transition financial instruments.”

Investor Statement to Support the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and Achieve Gender Equality
In October, Addenda Capital signed on to the Investor Statement to support the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and achieve Gender Equality. The statement asks companies to strengthen commitments and act to support gender equality. It is important to consider gender equality in our investment decisions, because, as the investor letter states: “We believe that a company that promotes and takes decisive action towards gender equality is a company that will create value not only for investors but for all its stakeholders.” Signing on benefits our clients, as it could help prompt companies we invest in to take action towards gender equality, which contributes to increased benefits to society and the economy and better financial performance.

 

PRODUCT-SPECIFIC INITIATIVES

 

1 TCFD: Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures

 

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