While the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. supports the goal of net zero by 2050, that doesn’t translate to a hard target for its portfolio, according to Jennifer Coulson (pictured left), the organization’s senior managing director and global head of environmental, social and governance.
Speaking in a panel session at the Canadian Investment Review’s 2025 Global Investment Conference, she said it’s very hard for an individual investor to make the commitment of achieving a net-zero 2050 portfolio. “I don’t think a lot of us even know what a net-zero portfolio looks like by 2050.”
The investment organization is more interested in making use of its influence as an asset owner in liquid and illiquid markets alike, she said. Coulson oversees the relationship between the BCI’s varied $250 billion asset mix and ESG, including integration with the internal investment teams and the external partners, as well as engagement with portfolio companies.
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In particular, she said she wants to engage with companies in the BCI’s portfolio to ensure 80 per cent of the most intensive carbon assets have credible net-zero plans by 2030. “Everything that we do through an ESG lens has to be in our clients’ best financial interest.”
On the other hand, the University Pension Plan does have a set objective to achieve net zero in its invested assets portfolio by 2040, said Brian Minns (pictured middle), its head of responsible investment. “We think we need a stable climate in order to have the best opportunity to generate investment returns for our beneficiaries over the long term.”
He stressed the need for global governments to join forces with regulators to drive entire economies towards a net-zero target. The UPP intends to allocate $1.2 billion to climate solution investments by 2030.
“It’s a pretty big challenge for us as a small investor based in Ontario, but we put together a plan,” he said, noting it requires a need to understand the climate-related risks and the opportunities alongside the impact its investments have on climate change.
To better understand climate-related risks, institutional investors depend on novel accounting disclosures that prioritize sustainability. Last year, the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board introduced the initial sustainability disclosure standards, allowing companies to talk about their performance on sustainability initiatives with the institutional investor community, said Janice Anderson (pictured right), a board member at the CSSB.
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Anderson, who is also a senior director and technical accounting of ESG compliance at Nutrien Ltd., said the framework can provide investors with sustainability related financial information to help support their financial decisions.
The CSSB standards are voluntary but — despite a recent decision to pause the incorporation of mandatory climate risk disclosures by the Canadian Securities Administrators — they’re poised to gain more prominence in the financial landscape.
“Our standards require companies to do a quantitative scenario analysis to truly understand their climate risks so that you can have that information to disclose.”
Read more coverage of the 2025 Global Investment Conference.