April 21, 2020

In March 2020, BCI joined the Government Pension Investment Fund (Japan), California State Teachers’ Retirement Scheme (US), and the Universities Superannuation Scheme (UK) in co-signing a letter on the importance of driving sustainable growth in the capital markets.

BCI is the first Canadian investor to sign-on to the Our Partnership on Sustainable Capital Markets statement. It outlines our collective responsibility to build financially meaningful futures for our clients and the risks of ignoring long-term disruptions, such as climate change, in the pursuit of short-term growth.

“We are committed to those companies and partners that create long-term value for our clients and who integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters into their decision-making processes,” said Gordon J. Fyfe, BCI’s CEO/CIO.

“They must have a clearly defined vision for sustainable growth because the ESG factors that we face today will affect the returns of tomorrow.”

BCI integrates ESG matters into all our investment decisions as it allows us to better manage and mitigate long-term investment risk. The statement aligns with BCI and our clients’ beliefs that companies who employ robust ESG practices are in a better position to generate long-term value than similar companies with less-favourable practices.

One of BCI’s ESG principles, informed by the Principles for Responsible Investing, is to work with like-minded investors and organizations to help strengthen our collective influence. The Our Partnership on Sustainable Capital Markets letter was co-signed in early March by the initial three institutional investors representing an estimated US$1.7 trillion in AUM. It now includes BCI, as well as APB (Netherlands), Brunel Pension Partnership (UK), Environment Agency Pension Fund (UK), Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (France), HESTA Super Fund (Australia), LGPS Central Limited (UK), Local Pensions Partnership Investment (UK), Nest Corporation (UK), RPMI Railpen (UK), and Victorian Funds Management Corporation (Australia). The statement garnered media attention around the world, including articles in the Financial Times and Forbes.

BCI is committed to integrating systemic risk issues into our investment activities, and we believe that, together, investors and companies can drive sustainable growth for the benefit of our clients and beneficiaries for generations to come.

You can read the letter here: Our Partnership for Sustainable Capital Markets.

CONTACT

Ben O’Hara-Byrne, Manager, External Communication
communication@bci.ca