Roughly seven in 10 (73 per cent) Ontario Pension Board plan members believe environmental, social and governance factors should play a critical role in the plan’s investment considerations, according to a new survey included in the investment organization’s inaugural ESG report. The survey, which polled roughly 10,000 plan members, found nearly two-fifths (39 per cent) of […]
As I write this column, I’m reflecting on the spectrum of weather I’ve witnessed this past winter. From my office window in southwestern Ontario, I looked out onto snowy rooftops for maybe a week over the last several months. That’s contrasted with a recent trip to Nova Scotia, where a series of winter storms brought […]
A growing wave of opposition to environmental, social and governance factors has turned life in the sustainable finance industry into something of a roller coaster over the last couple of years. But a little turbulence is to be expected, says Alyson Slater, managing director of sustainable investment at Manulife Investment Management, encouraging institutional investors to […]
During Canada’s unprecedented 2023 wildfire season, 6,500 individual fires burned more than 18.4 million hectares of land — and wildland firefighters bore the brunt of it all. “The working conditions are extremely dangerous and they’re getting more dangerous as fires become larger and more intense, and, in many cases, are going through communities,” says Bert […]
Canada’s largest public pension funds are showing modest improvements on climate action but are moving too slowly overall, according to a new report by a climate advocacy group. The progress report from Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health found four of the 11 pension plans it examined still don’t have emissions reduction targets […]
A majority (91 per cent) of Canadian institutional investors say climate change is a leading concern within the environmental, social and governance space, according to a new survey by Millani. The survey, which polled more than 30 institutional investors with a total of $4.5 trillion in assets under management, found 47 per cent of respondents also […]
More than two-thirds of global employers view the lack of key talent and uncertain economic growth (68 per cent for both) as the top threats to their businesses, according to a survey by Russell Reynolds Associates. The survey, which polled more than 2,500 global board directors, C-suite leaders and next-generation leaders, found 62 per cent of […]
It takes time to measure the success of environmental, social and governance integration at a portfolio level, said Sam Tripuraneni, head of sustainable outcomes at Aviva Investors, during the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2023 Investment Innovation Conference in November. As successful ESG integration is purely about process, it’s important that ESG-integrated funds aren’t sold on the basis of […]
The OPSEU Pension Trust is targeting a 30 per cent reduction in its carbon footprint by 2030, according to its new climate change report. It found that since 2018, when the investment organization first launched its climate action plan, it has increased its exposure to federal and provincial green bonds to $550 million. OPTrust also expects […]
The market share of responsible investment assets under management rose slightly in 2022, from 47 per cent to 49 per cent, even as AUM in general decreased, according to the Responsible Investment Association’s annual trends report. The report tracks the national trends and outlook for responsible investing by surveying asset managers, including the Alberta Investment […]