November 23, 2022
Victoria, British Columbia – Today, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) released our 2022 Climate Action Plan, a continuation of our strategy that builds upon more than 20 years of climate action and affirms our commitment to supporting the global goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. We continue to focus on capturing opportunities arising from the transition to a low carbon economy, while also protecting our clients’ portfolios from undue physical and transition risks.
“As one of Canada’s largest investment managers, we have the opportunity to advance the global goal of net-zero through our influence across the portfolio,” said Gordon J. Fyfe, BCI’s chief executive officer and chief investment officer. “Our 2022 Climate Action Plan builds on two decades of climate strategy and reinforces our commitment to being a part of the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
As a long-term investor focused on the best financial outcomes for our clients, BCI’s approach positions us to support the global path of net zero while maximizing the likelihood of achieving client objectives in all future climate scenarios. Our approach is informed by current climate science, climate risk methodologies, and industry best practices on climate disclosure and reporting.
“Climate change poses a systemic risk to the value of our clients’ portfolios and to the global economy. BCI manages this risk by integrating climate considerations into our investment decisions,” said Ramy Rayes, executive vice president, investment strategy & risk. “To advance our clients’ best financial interests, we will continue to adapt our climate action plan and inform our investment strategies with the latest climate science and changing market dynamics.”
Building on our first Climate Action Plan, which laid the groundwork to consider climate change impacts across our portfolios, BCI’s 2022 Climate Action Plan updates our strategies to reduce systemic climate risks in our portfolio and the broader market by using our influence. Our plan continues to be guided by four focus areas – engage & advocate, integrate, seek opportunities, and manage risk. We have strengthened our ambitions under each area and introduced supporting actions and metrics.
- Engage & Advocate: As an active investor managing capital on behalf of our clients, we take our ownership rights and responsibilities seriously. We have a well-developed shareholder engagement program that enables us to actively engage with portfolio companies, advocate for policy change, and participate in global initiatives on climate action reporting and transparency.
Our Focus: By 2030, ensure at least 80 per cent of BCI’s carbon-intensive investments have set mature net-zero aligned commitments, or are the subject of direct or collaborative climate engagement by BCI.
- Integrate: We believe the most effective way to manage the risk of climate change is to integrate climate considerations into every investment decision at the asset, pool, and total client portfolio levels.
Our Focus: Further integrate climate stress testing into investment decisions and monitor the total portfolio’s climate change stress test outcomes.
- Seek Opportunities: The transition to a low carbon economy offers a variety of new investment opportunities. BCI actively invests in key areas we believe will benefit from the energy transition, with the goal of supporting long-term investment outcomes for our clients.
Our Focus: Pursue meaningful investments in climate solutions through specific actions in all asset classes.
- Manage Risks: We consider physical and transition climate change risks across asset classes and align with best practices to understand, quantify, and report on these risks.
Our Focus: Continue to track and report the total portfolio carbon footprint with the expectation that it will decrease over time.
Our Climate Action Plan will continue to evolve and adapt to changes in the market, and we are continually working on innovative solutions to ensure climate science informs our investment decisions.
Read BCI’s 2022 Climate Action Plan
ABOUT BCI
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is amongst the largest institutional investors in Canada with $211.1 billion under management, as of March 31, 2022. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver and New York City, BCI is invested in: fixed income and private debt; public and private equity; infrastructure and renewable resources; as well as real estate equity and real estate debt through our independently operated platform company QuadReal Property Group. With our global outlook, we seek investment opportunities that convert savings into productive capital that will meet our clients’ risk and return requirements over time. This compels us to integrate long-term ESG matters into all investment decisions and activities. BCI’s clients include pension plans representing over 715,000 plan members, insurance funds providing more than three million Autoplan insurance policies annually, benefits coverage to more than two million workers and 225,000 companies, and special purpose funds within British Columbia’s public sector. Founded in 1999, BCI is a statutory corporation created by the Public Sector Pension Plans Act.
CONTACT
Olga Petrycki, Director, External Stakeholder Engagement
778-410-7310 | media@bci.ca
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