Desjardins Group today unveiled its new policy on sustainable development, confirming its commitment to upholding the main objectives of the Kyoto Protocol.

“Our commitment to the environment, which dates back approximately 15 years, has now been consecrated as a fundamental strategic element for all our activities and components,” said Alban D’Amours, president and CEO, in a release..

The new policy is intended to mobilize all the various Desjardins Group components in a continually evolving manner and to encourage them to assess the positive and negative impacts of all decisions on an economic, social and environmental level.

For example, Desjardins Group components will try to encourage the development of green technologies through all their financing and investment activities and include socially responsible criteria in their investment policies.

As well, as a purchaser of goods and services, Desjardins will gradually favour the use of suppliers and sub-contractors who subscribe to the principles of sustainable development by keeping them informed of its expectations.

In 2006, Desjardins will adopt a complete sustainable development action plan with specific objectives to be reached for each initiative put forward, as well as performance indicators to ensure the follow-up and success of its projects.

It has set itself a major objective as part of its new sustainable development policy, with the Desjardins Paper Challenge. This involves reducing the quantity of paper consumed throughout the entire group by 15% within three years, and increasing the use of recycled paper by 15% over the same period.

The new policy reinforces Desjardins’ commitment to a healthier environment. The group has signed on with the United Nations’ UNEP Statement by Financial Institutions on the Environment and Sustainable Development. It is also a member of the Canadian Executive Forum on Climate Change — which recently launched a call-to-action to Prime Minister Paul Martin — as well as the Comité consultatif du Centre québécois sur les changements climatiques.

“With this new sustainable development policy, Desjardins takes a stand, within its field of activity, as an active player in favour of socially responsible development,” said D’Amours.

The new policy came into effect on October 12, 2005.

Desjardins Group is the largest integrated cooperative financial group in Canada, with overall assets of more than $106 billion.