Canadian asset owners are absent from the leaders list in this year’s Global Climate 500 Index, a report that rates the world’s biggest investors based on how well they manage climate risk in their portfolios. Overall, Canada received a D grade and ranked 14th on the list of global asset owners when it comes to dealing with climate change risk.
The report, produced by the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP), lists the top leaders and “laggards” among asset owners and asset managers and shows one positive trend: the number of complete laggards in this country (those taking no action whatsoever) has fallen from 44% last year to 23% this year, meaning more are heeding the call to begin addressing climate change risk in their portfolios.
While Canada still has much work to do, AODP looks on the bright side of U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on climate change: despite warnings of a rollback on climate policy in the U.S., “climate risk management cannot be unlearned by the investment community, where the majority have now begun to take action.” Among the top leaders on the list are seven U.S asset owners. That won’t change soon argues AODP: “Consideration of the financial implications of climate change is on an upward long term trajectory, transcending short-term political cycles.”
It’s the first year the report has ranked asset managers and the overall findings show that managers lag asset owners by a considerable margin. Only two asset managers made the leaders list with a AAA or AA rating, with the majority scoring Cs and Ds.