What Does ESG Mean to BCI and Our Clients?
Any environmental, social, or governance (ESG) factor that could positively or negatively affect the risk or return of an investment, sector, or fund. These factors can be company-specific, like board independence, or systemic, like climate change.
We consider ESG to be synonymous with responsible investing and sustainable investing.
Our ESG Strategy
Our ESG strategy is guided by our investment beliefs and our ESG principles, which together create consistency across asset classes and act as a compass. Together, the strategy’s four key components – integrate, influence, invest, and insight – represent all ESG activities taking place at BCI. Our approach is grounded in common principles and addresses issues most material to our clients’ investments. Our ESG Governance Policy establishes the governance framework and articulates the general approach, and related roles and responsibilities at BCI regarding ESG.
Our Approach
We integrate ESG considerations when assessing a potential investment opportunity, reporting on our findings for BCI’s management investment committee to consider, and once invested, we monitor and track ESG risks and opportunities.
We influence through exercising our voting rights, collaborating for greater impact, submitting policy submissions, or through having a voice at board tables, leading to better value and outcomes for our clients.
We actively seek opportunities to invest in those ESG-themed investments that contribute to improved long-term outcomes for clients and reinforce our investment beliefs.
We use our learnings across all ESG activities, as well as our understanding of emerging trends, to generate and communicate insights that help us adapt and improve strategies, processes, and approaches across all asset classes.
Our Corporate ESG Influence Priorities
Each asset class has focus areas that are unique to the sectors and companies in which they invest. There are also systemic ESG issues relevant to the entire portfolio, and these corporate-wide engagement priorities guide our activities.
Climate Change
Water Management
Data Security & Privacy
Human Capital Management
Diversity & Inclusion2020 Highlights
ratings in every PRI assessment category and outperforming global signatories in most categories
detailed ESG reviews across private and public markets completed
in cumulative historic participation in sustainable bonds, up from $356 million in 2019
ESG in Our Investments
Refresco is an independent bottling company in Europe and North America. We have worked with Refresco to shape the business to better drive value through ESG.
Puget, an energy utility company in the U.S state of Washington, has assumed a leadership role among North American utilities by aspiring to net-zero carbon by 2045.
For the second year, QuadReal Property Group’s diversified portfolio of office, industrial, retail, and residential assets received top rankings in the GRESB (the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) assessment.
Developed by BCI’s quantitative equity team in consultation with our clients, the fund offers the benefit of a strategy that was internally designed and customized to their needs, as compared to indexed or managed externally.
Our Latest Commitments
BCI joined 35 institutional investors, managing $5.5 trillion in assets, in signing the Canadian Investor Statement on Climate Change in October 2021. The initiative, coordinated by the Responsible Investment Association of Canada, sends a unified message to issuers, government, and other stakeholders that Canadian institutional investors support the transition to a net-zero economy.
BCI and seven other leading Canadian pension plan investment managers, representing approximately $1.6 trillion in assets under management, joined forces in November 2020 to call for consistent and complete ESG information.
BCI, together with Canadian institutional investors managing more than $2.3 trillion in assets, signed the Canadian Investor Statement on Diversity & Inclusion in October 2020, an initiative coordinated by the Responsible Investment Association.
Collaboration
We collaborate with like-minded investors and organizations to strengthen our collective influence in addressing ESG issues, to explore best practices across industries, and to advance engagement.
BCI is a founding signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Each year, we participate in an annual assessment of progress through PRI.
We joined the Climate Action 100+ in 2017, and actively participate in efforts to encourage the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters to act against climate change.
As a member since 2016, BCI is aligned with the 30% Club Canada’s goal of influencing S&P.TSX Composite Index companies to achieve a minimum 30% female representation on boards and at the executive management level by 2022.
As a member of the Global Infrastructure Investor Association (GIIA) since 2017, BCI joins the world’s leading investors in infrastructure, and advisors to the sector, spanning 55 countries.
