Climate change

COMMITMENTS TO GLOBAL AND REGIONAL INITIATIVES

Power Corporation’s publicly traded operating companies Great-West Lifeco, IGM Financial and GBL have all become supporters of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), respectively in 2020, 2019 and 2021.

Since becoming a supporter of the TCFD, IGM Financial has convened an enterprise-wide TCFD Working Group of senior leaders who are responsible for taking an active role in driving the integration of climate change risks and opportunities across business strategies and promoting enhanced climate-related disclosures. For its part, Mackenzie Investments has also established a Sustainable Investing Centre of Excellence responsible for ESG research and advocacy, sustainable investing solutions and investment stewardship. IGM Financial’s companies also each have sustainable investing committees and working groups comprised of executive leaders who oversee sustainable investing priorities, including climate change. In addition, IGM Financial’s companies engage in regulatory and policy dialogue and collaborate with industry peers to advance science-based approaches through membership and participation with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Climate Action 100+, CERES, the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative, the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, and Climate Engagement Canada.

Furthermore, Great-West Lifeco’s subsidiary, Irish Life Investment Managers, as well as IGM Financial’s subsidiaries, IG Wealth Management and Mackenzie Investments, have joined Climate Action 100+, an investor initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change.

In 2021, IG Wealth Management and Mackenzie Investments became founding signatories to the Canadian Investor Statement on Climate Change, a Canadian-focused initiative driving dialogue with industry to promote a just transition to a net-zero economy. Also in 2021, Mackenzie Investments became a founding participant in Climate Engagement Canada and a signatory to the NZAM initiative. In 2022, Irish Life Investment Manager also became a signatory to the NZAM initiative. Irish Life Investment Managers’ NZAM approach adheres to the Paris Aligned Investor Initiative (PAII), which is a collaborative investor-led global forum enabling investors to align their portfolios and activities to the goals of the Paris Agreement. 

Finally, GBL committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in May 2021. In January 2022, GBL became the first investment holding company to have climate targets aligned with a 1.5°C pathway approved by SBTi for both its own operations and its eligible portfolio of participations. In 2023, 62% of the eligible portfolio had a climate strategy with targets aligned to a 1.5°C trajectory validated by SBTi, compared to 0% in 2020.

CARBON PERFORMANCE

In 2021, Great-West Lifeco announced its ambition of achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050 for both operations and investments. In 2023, it published Advancing Inclusive Growth, a report that presents the company’s net zero interim goals for operations and investments. Also in 2021, the IGM Financial group of companies issued its Climate Position Statement, which included a commitment to be carbon neutral in 2022 across its corporate offices and travel, which the company delivered on, including Scope 1, 2 and related Scope 3 emissions. Finally, in 2022, GBL became the first investment holding company to have climate targets aligned with a 1.5°C pathway approved by SBTi for both its own operations and its eligible portfolio of participations. More information on our publicly traded operating companies’ climate commitments, goals, targets and carbon management strategies and reporting can be found in their respective disclosure, including their respective responses to the CDP climate change questionnaire.

In addition to the above, Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial continued to monitor and track their performance in furtherance of energy use, water use, waste, and GHG emissions reduction targets. For its part, GBL conducted its annual in-depth ESG risk assessment and due diligence of its portfolio companies, covering topics that included efficiency in the use of resources, pollution prevention and management, ecosystem and biodiversity, climate change, environmental supplier and procurement standards, and environmental product responsibility.

SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS

Great-West Lifeco’s subsidiary GWL Realty Advisors aims to minimize its environmental footprint by driving cost efficiency and improving the sustainability performance of the buildings under its management, while working collaboratively with service providers to support environmentally conscious activities, products and services. Through its leadership and expertise, GWL Realty Advisors believes it can have the greatest impact by influencing the development of sustainable cities and communities; encouraging more responsible consumption and production within its managed portfolio; and managing and reducing the risks posed by climate change to its clients’ portfolios in support of a resilient world and low-carbon economy. In 2023, the company had great success building a foundation to position its assets to make substantive progress in reducing GHG emissions. Further to Great-West Lifeco’s ambition to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 for investments, GWL Realty Advisors also set an interim carbon footprint reduction goal of a 50% reduction by 2030 from a 2019 baseline. To date, the company has achieved a 19.1% carbon footprint reduction from 2019 to 2023 across its office and multi-residential assets.  As part of setting the foundation for achieving these goals, the company also built an asset prioritization plan with screening criteria to identify those assets that are the best candidates for decarbonization studies. This process has led to GWL Realty Advisors completing 40 studies over the past two years and planning for an additional 20 studies in 2024. As a mark of progress, GWL Realty Advisors achieved its first CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Certification, at 1090 Homer Street in Vancouver, BC. The team at 1090 Homer Street has been making thoughtful efforts over the years to minimize the building’s reliance on natural gas for heating and to maintain low-carbon energy systems. 

The company’s Sustainability Benchmarking and Conservation Program (SBCP) is an internal initiative designed to drive sustainability performance in the office portfolio. During this program, asset and property management teams set 5-year targets for individual assets to meaningfully reduce energy, water, waste and GHG emissions. Year-end 2023 marked the completion of the latest SBCP target timeframe, and thanks to the sustained efforts of its property and asset management teams, the company’s office properties achieved and surpassed the goals for energy, water and GHG emissions. While the waste diversion goals were not met, teams nonetheless had an average diversion rate of 61% and impressively reduced waste to landfill by 25%. Going forward, GWL Realty Advisors will transition the SBCP to align with the broader organization’s net-zero goals.  

Complementary to the SBCP, GWL Realty Advisors’ Going for Gold Challenge came to a close in 2023. This challenge was for all eligible offices to maintain or receive BOMA BEST® Gold level or higher. During the challenge, BOMA Canada updated the BOMA BEST certification, raising the bar for all certifying properties and increasing the difficulty to maintain Gold level. The company successfully certified or maintained 86% of offices Gold or higher under BOMA BEST or LEED, and 10 offices received Platinum level certification.
A majority of the buildings under GWL Realty Advisors’ management also have green building certifications. To learn more about these efforts, please visit the SDG 11 section of this website.  

IGM Financial’s environmental management efforts focus on four areas of its operations: responsible purchasing, office space, resource management and business travel. The company recently developed a company-wide Procurement Policy to guide them in sourcing, selecting and managing suppliers to meet its needs and mitigate potential risks. They’ve also launched a sustainable procurement program with a minimum weighting factor of 20% for ESG criteria in evaluating requests for proposals. Lastly, IGM Financial’s Corporate Real Estate team is developing a multi-year strategy to reduce the carbon impact of its workplaces by rationalizing office space, modernizing existing offices and, when leases expire, upgrading to more energy-efficient buildings and preferably ones that are LEED certified. The company has a goal of reducing the amount of leased office space we occupy by 20% from December 2023 to December 2026. 

In its head office, GBL promotes leading energy efficiency. GBL’s Marnix head office building is currently being renovated with the aim to achieve HQE (“Haute Qualité Environnementale”), BREEAM Outstanding and CO2 Neutral certifications. The renovation works are expected to be completed during 2024, and combined with the switch to 100% renewable energy sourcing, these initiatives will strongly contribute to reduce GBL’s energy consumption and direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions.

EMPLOYEE AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Through the work of employee green committees, sustainability/green councils, working groups and internal promotion, Great-West Lifeco, IGM Financial and GBL continued to educate their workforce on these topics, building capacity and creating a consistent culture of environmental awareness.

In 2022, IGM Financial amalgamated its operating company green teams to form an IGM Green Business Resource Group (BRG), which drives employee engagement around the environment and climate change by organizing sustainability-focused events throughout the year. Its 2023 initiatives included: the planting of 650 trees in Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montreal in partnership with TreeCanada; donating over 1,600 unused binders to local organizations; and putting up clearer waste signage in its Winnipeg and Toronto offices. 

Great-West Lifeco’s commitment to the environment extends beyond its own operations and into the communities where it lives and works each day, including through the following initiatives. In 2023, Canada Life worked with MicroHabitat, an urban farming company, to create and manage an urban farm rooftop garden for its Toronto office. Through this garden, the company donated approximately 300 lb. of produce to local foodbanks. In addition, GWL Realty Advisors continued to leverage several empty rooftops to help address food insecurity through its ongoing and expanded MicroHabitat initiative. In total, the gardens yielded a harvest of over 7,250 pounds of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers in the 2023 season, and offered 640 meals to the Breakfast Club of Canada. Sharing the harvest with local food banks and community organizations allowed GWL Realty Advisors to directly help fill a need for accessible and fresh nutritious food at a time when Canadian food bank use is quickly rising. Furthermore, the rooftop gardens help reduce its environmental footprint by limiting the heat island effect that is common in urban areas. The urban farms have also played an important role in engaging and educating their tenants. 

In addition to supporting organizations that are focused on issues related to climate change, our major publicly traded subsidiaries encourage their staff to play their part in preserving the environment. As an example, Canada Life has a partnership with Green Standards, which promotes the reselling and recycling of office furniture with the revenues generated from this activity then donated to local community organizations. Since 2009, over 135 projects have diverted tonnes of material from landfills.