June 11, 2021

BCI’s Jennifer Coulson, vice president of ESG in public markets, has been announced as an inaugural member of the federal government’s Sustainable Finance Action Council (SFAC).  SFAC brings together 24 key representatives of the financial community to provide input on the foundational market infrastructure needed for a stable and reliable sustainable finance market in Canada.

The federal minister of finance and the federal minister of the environment and climate change launched the SFAC in May 2021, with a commitment of $7.3 million in funding over three years. The creation of the council was one of the recommendations included in the 2019 Final Report of the Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance.

The principal mandate of SFAC is to make recommendations on the critical market infrastructure needed to attract and scale sustainable finance in Canada. This includes strengthened assessment and disclosure of climate risks and opportunities, better access to climate data and analytics, and common standards for sustainable and low-carbon investments. Early emphasis will be on climate disclosure, taxonomies, and data and analytics, including diversity data.

SFAC Chair, Kathy Bardswick, invited BCI to join the initiative. We determined that BCI’s participation provides an opportunity to advise the federal government in alignment with our corporate priorities of climate action and diversity and inclusion. It also complements policy work BCI has done over many years relating to capital markets regulation.

Jennifer Coulson has nearly 20-years of experience in the field of responsible investing. As a senior member of BCI’s public markets team., she oversees ESG risk analysis for portfolio companies; engages with companies to manage ESG risk; develops public policy submissions on ESG matters of broad relevance to the investment industry; and oversees BCI’s proxy voting program.