The leaders of 11 of Canada’s largest public sector pension investment organizations are calling on companies to adopt a new framework that would consolidate existing disclosure standards, including those from the sustainability accounting standards board and the task force on climate-related financial disclosures.
The framework, which was set out by the International Sustainability Standards Board, aims to provide corporations with the ability to identify and address issues related to diversity and inclusion, human capital, board effectiveness and climate change.
“We believe that integrating material sustainability-related factors into our strategies and investment decisions is an integral part of the duty that many of us owe to our clients, contributors and beneficiaries,” wrote the investment organizations in the statement. “To achieve this, we need companies to be transparent. This is why we are coming together today to encourage the companies in which we invest and those seeking our capital to leverage the recently introduced International Sustainability Standards Board disclosure framework.”
Read: Canadian pension plans sign new investor statement on diversity and inclusion
The organizations include: the Alberta Investment Management Corp., the British Columbia Investment Management Corp., the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, the Investment Management Corp., the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the OPSEU Pension Trust, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board and the University Pension Plan.
The organizations also committed to strengthening their own disclosure processes. “For our part, we will continue to strive to strengthen our own sustainability disclosures and allocate capital to businesses best placed to preserve and create value over the long run. We ask corporate leaders to embrace the increased transparency we need to make investment decisions that will deliver a better future for us all.”
Read: PIAC calling on CSA to ensure consistency in climate disclosure regulations