Montreal-based Addenda Capital has signed the Montreal Carbon Pledge, a commitment to measure and disclose the carbon footprints of its investment portfolios as part of an effort to better understand the investment implications of climate change.
This makes Addenda the first investment firm to disclose the carbon footprint of all its equity funds, the company says in a statement released earlier this month.
As a signatory to the pledge, Addenda Capital has compiled greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data for companies and will use this data in their investment decisions and discussions with companies regarding their GHG emissions and the climate change related risks and opportunities that they face. Addenda Capital will consider both direct and indirect GHG emissions in the context of expected regulatory changes, the company says, as well as potential physical impacts and other climate change related risks.
“Experts agree that GHG emissions cause climate change, so sooner or later there will have to be a price on carbon. As an investor, this will make carbon emissions as important as other key financial metrics in keeping score,” says Roger Beauchemin, president and CEO of Addenda Capital, in a statement.
“For us, signing the Montréal Carbon Pledge shows that Addenda Capital understands a challenge that the financial markets will have to face sooner rather than later. It makes us a better investor,” adds Beauchemin.
The Montreal Carbon Pledge was launched on Sept. 25, 2014 at the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) annual meeting in Montreal. Signatories commit to measure and disclose their investments’ carbon footprint annually by December 2015. More than 95 institutional investors, including seven others from Canada, have signed the pledge. More than US$8 trillion of assets under management have already committed to the pledge,
Addenda Capital manages over $24.5 billion in investment assets on behalf of pensions, insurance and other institutions as well as high net worth clients.