Our Climate Action Plan
BCI’s Climate Action Plan and Approach to the TCFD Recommendations Recommendations (Climate Action Plan) outlines tools and metrics, maps out our strategy for positioning our clients to capitalize on opportunities arising from the transition to a lower carbon economy, while also protecting their portfolios from undue physical and transition risk by reducing their exposure to assets that present great risk, and outlines our reporting practices in alignment with the TCFD.
The Climate Action Plan summarizes four core activities:
Manage RisksBy quantifying BCI’s and clients’ specific climate change risks and monitoring changes in expected outcomes.
IntegrateBy employing climate analysis in investment decision-making at the asset, pool, and total client portfolio levels.
Seek OpportunitiesBy investing in beneficiaries of the transition to a low carbon economy, where it makes financial sense.
Engage & AdvocateBy encouraging climate-related disclosure and strategy, with investment companies, industry peers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.
Our Approach to Disclosure
As a signatory of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), BCI has been measuring and reporting the carbon footprint of our public equities’ portfolio since 2017, demonstrating the total carbon emissions of the portfolio normalized by the market value. BCI has since started measuring the carbon footprint of our fixed income, real estate, and private market programs.
Our alignment is reported in our Climate Action Plan, and annual updates are included in our ESG/responsible investing annual reports.
BCI’s 2020 ESG Annual report
This report provides an annual overview of our ESG highlights, updates, and activities.
Updates regarding our commitment to TCFD reporting are included in this report each year, including the weighted average carbon intensity (WACI) measurement of BCI’s public equities portfolio.
BCI’s Proxy Voting Guidelines
With the most recent update to our Proxy Voting Guidelines, released in February 2021, BCI raised our expectations of companies within our public equity program.
- We expect boards to oversee management’s efforts to manage climate change-related risks and will escalate
the targeting of directors for weak responses to these risks. - We will consider supporting more prescriptive shareholder proposals on climate change to publicly
signal our expectation that companies must act immediately.
Taking Action
BCI has partnered with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and the University of Victoria on The Climate Finance Project. This multi-year initiative aims to expand the potential of the finance and investment sector to support the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Climate Action 100+ is the largest investor-led engagement initiative on climate change. BCI leads or co-leads engagements with four North American companies in the oil and gas sector and mining industry, and supports engagements with six other companies in the oil and gas sector and utilities industry.
Awards
Responsible Investment Association (RIA) Leadership Award for Integration
BCI has been awarded the 2021 Responsible Investment Association’s (RIA) Leadership Award for Integration for our ESG Risk & Opportunity Framework. Developed in-house, it measures and monitors the potential implications of systemic ESG risks and opportunities, including climate change, at the total portfolio level.