The California State Teachers’ Retirement System has awarded Acuity Investment Management Inc. a $50 million Canadian equity mandate focused on environmentally sustainable investments.

“We are very excited about CalSTRS’s decision, as it reinforces the interest we are seeing from institutional investors to seek both returns and environmental benefits,” said Ian Ihnatowycz, Acuity’s president, CEO and CIO. “We believe that investment managers need to fully integrate the investment analytics needed to value businesses with internal environmental, social and governance capabilities, as we have successfully demonstrated over the last 15 years.”

CalSTRS is the second largest public pension plan and the largest teachers’ retirement fund in the United States. CalSTRS has a total membership of almost 800,000 public school educators and assets of US$169 billion.

“As a ‘forever’ investor, we have to look at the impact environmental problems have on the long-term profitability of our holdings. Through this program and with these partners, we are using our members’ dollars to help address such environmental issues as climate change while generating sound returns,” said Jack Ehnes, CalSTRS’s CEO. “Environmentally responsible investing makes sense for the future growth and stability of our portfolio.”