Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
There's no one way to define sustainable investing, but more fund providers in the space are beginning to provide hard numbers to back up their claims.
The trend toward increased disclosure comes as sustainable investing sees both rapid growth, and increased scrutiny by regulators and investors amid concerns the environmental credentials of funds are being overstated.
Wealthsimple Inc., for one, recently revealed the results of a climate audit on their two socially responsible investment funds after an advocacy group asked how they shaped up.
Ben Reeves, chief investment officer at Wealthsimple, said they had initially set out parameters on the funds such as not investing in fossil fuels and cutting out the top emitters in other sectors, but that they were deficient on hard data such as how the funds actually perform climate-wise.
"If you're going to try and invest in a socially responsible way, you really need to understand the details of what you're investing in and why," he said.
Reeves said that he found many of the ratings around sustainable investing were an aggregation of so many factors that they were unreliable, so Wealthsimple went with measures around carbon emissions for the companies in their funds.
An audit by shareholder proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services showed that the two Wealthsimple funds have a carbon intensity measure -- how much carbon dioxide companies generate compared to revenue -- well below market benchmarks. The companies were also aligned with the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees, compared to a benchmark of around 2.5 degrees of warming.
The latter measure, known as the temperature alignment score, is becoming more relevant among the many ways to measure climate impacts, said Hernando Cortina, head of index strategy at the ESG division of ISS.
"The reason that's important is that it's a forward-looking measure, it's not giving you just what the data looks like today but an estimation of the trajectory the companies."
Cortina said the measure, like all such indicators, requires assumptions on a range of factors, such as the actual carbon emissions for firms that don't report, as well as the reliability of company commitments and how effective their carbon reduction policies might actually be, but that it's becoming more reliable as disclosures increase
NEI Investments, which bills itself as Canada's "leading provider of responsible investment solutions," is also looking to provide more climate data on its funds, but it's still struggling to find the right measurements, said John Bai, chief investment officer at NEI.
"We're trying to wrap our heads around what the best providers are, and what the right context for all of that is, because it's not just a simple metric as far as we're concerned."
There's been growing calls for more disclosure so that investors can make decisions that factor in sustainability measures.
Eight of Canada's largest pension funds representing $1.6 trillion in assets issued a joint statement last year urging more data on environmental, social and governance information to strengthen decision-making and risk assessments.
"We call on companies and investment partners to help drive lasting change by placing sustainability at the centre of their planning, operations and reporting," the said.
The calls come as the sustainable investment sector has seen tremendous growth with Canadian investments hitting $26 billion in the second quarter for a year-over-year growth of 130 per cent, said Morningstar Inc.
Regulators have also shown increased interest in the sector.
In the European Union, new laws came into force earlier this year that require more climate-related disclosures by companies, as well as requiring more justification of sustainability claims.
The U.S., too, is cracking down. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S Justice Department are investing claims that Deutsche Bank AG's asset-management division, DWS Group, overstated the sustainability credentials of their funds.
In Canada, the Ontario Securities Commission did a review this year of a few dozen funds to see how well their marketing claims around sustainability matched the investment products. A report on the review noted that it didn't find any problems, though there is also limited regulatory guidance in Canada on what constitutes a sustainable investment.
Regulating sustainability claims won't be easy however, because there are so many different approaches in the space.
NEI's strategy, for one, has focused more on board engagement by investing in companies like Suncor Inc. and pushing them to improve their practices through shareholder resolutions and conversations with management rather than simply not own the stock, so a metric such as carbon intensity score doesn't capture what they're trying to do.
"Just because you're not investing in these companies doesn't mean their carbon impact is going away," said Bai.
"We've taken the other stance, in that we'll own the company and engage with them, say that its really important that they begin to transition their operations to a net-zero world."
Reeves said Wealthsimple is not making grand claims about how much the funds will help the environment, rather that the ETFs are designed for investors who want to participate in the parts of the economy that are not actively contributing to the climate crisis.
He said people can help the environment much more effectively by taking actions like by voting for leaders who are going to fight climate change, by improving the energy efficiency of their home, or paying a green premium when shopping.
"If you really want to be part of the solution, you need to take action yourself. Don't just buy ETFs."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2021.
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
With carriers' flight volumes above the 60th parallel hovering below pre-pandemic levels, Canadian North’s first Inuk CEO now bears the task of balancing those financial and logistical challenges with the needs of communities for which she feels a deep affinity.
One of greatest climbing guides on Mount Everest has scaled the world's highest peak for the 29th time, extending his own record for most times to the summit, expedition organizers said Sunday.
Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.
RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says he wants the government to look at drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials.
Homicide investigators in B.C. say murder charges have been laid against a fourth Indian national in connection to the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Surrey gurdwara last year.
Past left-leaning presidents who enacted some of the most socially liberal policies on the continent have given way to a self-proclaimed "anarcho-capitalist" whose fiery appraisals of social justice and efforts to dismantle diversity and equity programs have made him into a global far-right icon.
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.