Aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals

Health Benefits

As an employer, we provide our employees and their families access to an Employee and Family Assistance Program to support work, health and life issues, including workplace challenges, nutrition, physical and mental health, addiction concerns, stress, depression and anxiety, family and parenting, relationships, and other situations. We also provide life insurance, short-term and long-term disability insurance, health and drug coverage, vision care, and dental coverage for our employees and retirees and access to on-site flu vaccinations or reimbursement of fees for a flu vaccine provided by a doctor or a pharmacy. Employees are also offered a yearly Well-Being Allocation, which provides a flexible approach to wellness, and a free gym membership. Finally, we offer employees access to Dialogue, Canada's premier virtual healthcare and wellness platform, and, since 2024, have offered employees access to Calm, a multifaceted app providing sleep, meditation and relaxation aids featuring a wide variety of content.

As an investor, we invest in businesses that promote health and wellness. For instance, Great-West Lifeco’s health and life insurance business is helping thousands of Canadians manage their personal wellness. Working together with other healthcare partners, they are improving the accessibility and affordability of group benefits, providing education on physical health, and developing a greater understanding of mental health.
 

Mental Health in the Workplace

Initially established in 2007 as the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, Workplace Strategies for Mental Health, compliments of Canada Life (Workplace Strategies), offers a range of free tools and resources for employers and employees to protect psychological health and safety at work.

Since January 2023, Canada Life has invested nearly $2.5 million in Workplace Strategies for Mental Health and charitable contributions to mental health-related initiatives. In addition, there have been more than 2.2 million page views and more than 642,000 visitors browsing Workplace Strategies’ free online tools and resources.
 

Financial Literacy

Financial literacy is fundamentally important for Canadians of all backgrounds and stages of life. Being financially literate means having the knowledge, skills, and confidence to make informed financial decisions. Through Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial, we support programs that promote financial literacy and education.

Canada Life supports Prosper Canada, an organization that focuses on expanding economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation. Through their Financial Empowerment Champions program, they aim to reduce poverty by improving the financial security of people with low income. Canada Life’s support help empower leading non-profits across Canada to deliver quality financial services and accelerate community collaboration. In turn, this builds financial security and resilience of vulnerable people. Since 2015, they’ve reached more than 700,000 people with financial empowerment services, trained more than 14,000 people to deliver services and helped boost people’s income by more than $1 billion.

As an extension of IGM Financial’s day-to-day work of helping clients with their financial goals, the company is committed to improving the financial confidence of Canadians who need it the most, knowing that when people understand their finances and have the resources and skills to support their individual needs, they are empowered to reach their goals and build a healthier and brighter future for themselves, their families and their community. Through the daily work of financial advisors who serve its clients, the financial literacy presentations these advisors deliver in the community, and as partners in the creation of financial education programs and curricula, IGM Financial is a leader in the ongoing effort to advance the financial confidence and financial security of Canadians.

In 2023, IG Wealth Management, one of IGM Financial’s operating companies, continued its partnership with Prosper Canada, which  works with Indigenous individuals in communities across Manitoba and Ontario to build their financial education and confidence through culturally appropriate workshops and one-on-one coaching. In 2023, IG Wealth Management announced an expansion of the program that includes Winnipeg. Last year, over 2,700 Indigenous community members gained financial knowledge and coaching, and, since the start of the partnership, 1,365 community members have access $8 million in income through assistance with tax filing. 

In addition, IGM Financial promotes financial confidence through its community program IG Empower Your Tomorrow. Through IG Wealth Management advisors, national partnerships, community seminars, events and educational materials, the program works to remove barriers to financial confidence among four traditionally underserved groups: Indigenous peoples, newcomers, seniors and youth. As part of this program, IG Wealth Management partnered with the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE) to provide free financial resources and in-person workshops tailored to Canada’s youth and seniors. In 2023, more than 2,300 people participated in 85 workshops focused on the newly launched Money and You: Seniors Edition, a resource that supports financial education for seniors. In addition, 73% of youth who participated in financial well-being workshops reported that the sessions enhanced their financial decision-making. 

Lastly, knowing that learning the financial systems of a new country can be daunting, IGM Financial works with the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba to provide financial education in newcomers’ first language. In 2023, 1,200 people accessed more than $4.3 million in benefits through one-on-one coaching. 

Gender Diversity

Power Corporation has a commitment to promote gender diversity at the Board and at senior management levels, which we articulate through our Board and Senior Management Diversity Policy. The Board believes diversity ensures directors provide the necessary range of perspectives to achieve effective stewardship and recognizes that gender diversity is a significant aspect of diversity. We aim to have at least 30% of our Board composed of women by 2025. Following the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, five women were elected to the Board, representing 36% of Board members, bringing the Corporation ahead of its objective. In addition, 52% at the management level at Power Corporation are women and 39% at the executive officer level within the Corporation's group companies (including its publicly traded operating companies and their respective principal subsidiaries).

Of the initiatives funded by the Power group in 2022, a key focus was on the advancement of women and gender equality. Organizations Power Corporation continued to support in 2022 include Fora: Network for Change, a centre for excellence for young women’s leadership development, École de technologie supérieure’s Objectif Féminin pluriel, which aims to increase female representation in the field of engineering, and the Foundation Lise Watier’s Let’s Start Up Program, which helps women looking to achieve a professional project related to entrepreneurship, the pursuit of post-secondary education or the search for a more fulfilling job.

Great-West Lifeco has set a goal to grow representation of women in management roles to 50% across its business segments by 2030 and as at 2023 year-end was on track to meet this objective. In addition, in 2023, 65% of Great-West Lifeco’s Canadian workforce and 45% of its management-level employees in the country were women. In recent years, Great-West Lifeco's Canadian companies supported the launch of networking and mentoring groups, such as the Women in Leadership group, and other initiatives for up-and-coming female leaders, focusing on education and inspiration. These groups reflect the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and in particular support the advancement of women in the organization.

At IGM Financial, increasing the representation of women in leadership positions is a priority. To drive continued progress, the company is focused on achieving its 35% women representation at the vice-president level or above by 2025 (including 40% at the assistant vice-president level or above), originally set in 2021. At the end of 2023, women occupied 34% of vice-president level positions or above, and 38% of assistant-vice presidents level positions or above. 

Moreover, in 2021 IGM Financial created business resource groups (BRGs) to replace their more informal Partners in Action teams. BRGs are volunteer employee-led groups with a common goal of cultivating an inclusive work environment through a focus on career development, mentoring, networking and business impact. One of the BRGs created, was the Women Business Resource Group and is supported by executives across IGM Financial and its operating company Mackenzie Investments. In 2023, the Women Business Resource Group spearheaded a speed mentoring event that gave 60 participants looking to develop their careers 10 minutes each with five different senior leaders. 

For its part, Mackenzie Investments’ Mackenzie Global Women’s Leadership Fund and Mackenzie Global Women’s Leadership ETF aim at driving social and governance change through a focus on companies that promote gender diversity and women’s leadership.

Mackenzie Investments’ Mackenzie Together platform is dedicated to creating an investment world that engages and inspires women, providing them with support to pursue careers in asset management. In 2023, Mackenzie hired five interns from the Women in Asset Management Program at Ivey Business School, which helps women acquire the skills, knowledge and hands-on experience they need to launch a career in asset management. In addition, through the platform, Mackenzie provides grants to non-profit organizations that support women’s financial well-being. In its inaugural year, Mackenzie Together Grants provided financial support to four charities. In total, the program will provide $500,000 over five years to charitable organizations that are addressing the financial knowledge gap of women and supporting families through financial education and training programs.

Lastly, the Mackenzie Investments Charitable Foundation is an employee-run and employee-funded charitable foundation established in 1999 that supports Canadian grassroots charities that focus on helping low-income women, at-risk youth and people experiencing health issues. It also coordinates thousands of hours of volunteer activities for Mackenzie employees annually. 

Renewable Energy Financing

We invest in the renewable energy sector through our alternative asset investment platform Power Sustainable, which actively manages investments in companies and projects that contribute to decarbonization. Power Sustainable has invested in companies that develop, own and operate solar and wind generating assets in North America as well as in leading manufacturers of sustainable technologies. Through its platform Power Sustainable Energy Infrastructure (Power Sustainable Energy), Power Sustainable operates a leading North American-focused renewable energy platform with 2.3 GW of utility-scale and distributed energy assets, including assets under construction, and assets in advanced development projects. It holds 100% interest in Potentia Renewables, a renewable energy generation company, active in North America, that is a fully integrated developer, operator and manager of solar and wind energy assets; and Nautilus Solar, a company headquartered in New Jersey, U.S., that acquires, develops, finances and manages distributed solar projects across community, municipal/utility-scale, commercial and industrial markets.

In 2023, Power Sustainable launched Power Sustainable Infrastructure Credit (PSIC), which provides capital solutions to projects and companies demonstrating positive underlying sustainability characteristics. Notably, PSIC supports initiatives focused on accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy and the creation of affordable clean energy by providing finance to projects which contribute to the stabilization of GHG concentration, decarbonization, or the increase of GHG sequestration (i.e. GHG removal).

Investments in Green Energy Projects

To take advantage of the low carbon transition, Great-West Lifeco also increased investments in the cleaner energy market to more than $6 billion in 2023 in wind, solar, and hydro renewable energy projects.

Job creation and benefits

Power Corporation and its group companies employed approximately 40,300 individuals and paid out $5.8 billion in salaries and other benefits in 2023. These funds flow through the economy, impacting the hundreds of communities in which our employees live and work. Our investments in training and new technologies also contribute to develop local talent and the intellectual capital of our people. 

INVESTMENTS TO SPUR GROWTH

Through its investment activities, Great-West Lifeco provides long-term capital, contributing to economic growth, and helping Canadians reach their financial goals. The company’s commercial mortgages, public bond and private placement investments provide opportunities for businesses and governments to help create employment, fund research and development, and support infrastructure, healthcare, and renewable energy projects. In 2023, the company funded more than $1.8 billion in new private debt and commercial mortgages across Canada.

In partnership with our group companies, Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial, Power Corporation has been actively participating in the emerging fintech industry. The group believes that fintech will change business models in financial services, making financial advice, insurance and investment services more accessible to consumers and available to them by the means and at the times that best suit them. 

One of our alternative asset investment platforms, Sagard, is committed to supporting the business building process. Through its Canadian private equity business (Sagard Private Equity – Canada) the company hopes to build a private equity franchise that will be recognized as the partner of choice for Canadian mid-market entrepreneurs and management on their quest to become market leaders. Meanwhile, through Sagard NewGen, the company supports entrepreneurs in the technology and healthcare industries to accelerate their growth projects in Europe and beyond. And finally, through Sagard MidCap, the company invests in six sectors – business services, food and consumer, healthcare, financial services, industrial and technology software – and partners with ambitious management teams to support the development of their businesses in France and abroad, supported by the Sagard ecosystem and network. 

Diagram, an ecosystem partner of Sagard, is a venture builder that conceives and launches technology companies in the financial services, insurance, and health industries. Working alongside world-class founders, they combine access to venture capital investment, hands-on support, and a deep ecosystem of partners into a unique platform to launch world-changing companies. 
 

REGISTERED DISABILITY SAVINGS PLANS

IG Wealth Management and Mackenzie Investments have continued to be market leaders in offering Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) for clients or their family members with disabilities, providing them access to a tax-preferred savings vehicle and the opportunity to take advantage of generous government grants and bonds. 

Reducing Inequalities

IGM Financial’s operating companies – IG Wealth Management and Mackenzie Investments – are signatories to the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles, which promote gender equality in the workplace, communities and marketplace.

IGM Financial's group companies and Canada Life have also made public pledges to end anti-Black systemic racism by signing the BlackNorth Initiative.

In 2023, IGM Financial engaged over 500 employees as members of Business Resource Groups, which seek to foster an inclusive work environment, with a focus on career development, mentoring, networking and business impact. In 2023 and 2024, its ongoing efforts to grow a diverse equitable and inclusive work environment were recognized and celebrated as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers.

In addition, both Great-West Lifeco's subsidiary Canada Life, and IGM Financial's subsidiary IG Wealth Management, are signatories of Winnipeg’s Indigenous Accord, committing to fostering a workplace culture in which Indigenous peoples and all employees can contribute to their fullest potential. IGM Financial and Canada Life are also taking concrete actions in support of the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #92. For instance, in 2023, Canada Life continued to support its employees on their journeys of education by providing them with a paid day off to engage in meaningful learning and reflection activities on the path towards truth and reconciliation. The company’s Indigenous Peoples Employee Resource Group hosted two events in 2023 to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day and National Truth and Reconciliation Day, celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ culture and heritage, as well as educating fellow employees on the hard and enduring truths of Canada’s history. For its part, IGM Financial is committed to the reconciliation process between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and works to move its company and people towards greater awareness, understanding and action. In 2024, IGM Financial will publish its first Reconciliation Action Plan, outlining how they intend to build on their response. 

Canada Life supports several organizations which aim to reduce inequalities for First Nations. Among these is Indspire, an Indigenous national charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people for the long-term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada. For more than a decade, Canada Life has supported Indspire and their vision that within a generation, every Indigenous student will graduate. Since 2018, the Canada Life Building Brighter Futures Awards & Bursaries have supported Indigenous university and college students studying business. New this year is an added focused support for students entering post-secondary for the first time either from high school or as a mature student. 

Canada Life also supports the Red River College Polytechnic (RRC Polytech), which is Manitoba’s largest institute of applied learning and research. With Canada Life’s support, RRC Polytech is creating a new Indigenous-led student mentorship program called The Circle of Friends Indigenous Student Mentorship Program. This program, which will be offered across all programs and campuses, will provide guidance to Indigenous learners as they navigate post-secondary experiences and the early weeks of employment. This Indigenous-led program will follow the mentorship model that is deeply rooted in Indigenous culture and will connect Indigenous participants with a mentor who has successfully walked a similar path.

Sagard, one of Power Corporation’s alternative asset management businesses, puts emphasis on network-building and inclusion practices. In 2020, Sagard’s CEO co-founded the Black Wealth Club (BWC), and in 2021, the Indigenous Leadership Circle (ILC), both aiming to create bridges and exchange knowledge and networks with young professionals and entrepreneurs across Canada.

Power Corporation supports initiatives that promote human rights in our community, including Lawyers Without Borders Canada, a non-governmental international cooperation organization whose mission is to support the defense of the human rights of people in situations of vulnerability by strengthening access to justice and legal representation. 

Power Corporation also supports the work of Indspire thought the Power Corporation of Canada Indigenous Award, which is distributed annually to Indigenous students who are attending post-secondary institutions to contribute towards paying their education costs. 

Economic Inclusion

Our group's financial services companies provide clients with a financial advisor who is encouraged and trained to recommend products that are suitable for each client’s individual situation.

IGM Financial believes that knowledge is power, and building financial well-being is at the core of their business. When people understand their finances and have the resources and skills to support their individual needs, they are empowered to reach their goals and build a healthier and brighter future for themselves, their families and their community. For instance, through the work of its subsidiary IG Wealth Management advisors, employees and community partners, the IG Empower Your Tomorrow program equips four traditionally underserved groups with the tools, resources and confidence they need to take control of their financial futures: Indigenous Peoples, through partnerships with organizations such as Prosper Canada which provides culturally appropriate workshops and one-on-one coaching to help build Indigenous people’s financial education and confidence; newcomers to Canada, by working with the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM) to help build financial skills and empowerment for low-income newcomers; and Youth and seniors, by offering free financial resources and in-person workshops that support financial education and decision-making through its partnerships with the CFEE.

Power Corporation supports Prosper Canada, a charity dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation to ensure that all financially vulnerable Canadians have access to the financial policies, programs, products and advice they need to build their financial well-being. 

Power Corporation also supports Windmill Microlending, Canada’s only national charity offering affordable loans to skilled immigrants and refugees that strives to ensure skilled newcomers are equitably integrated into the workforce while contributing their expertise to Canada’s economic and social success. The organization’s microloans help pay for the costs of accreditation, training and career development. In addition to the loans, the organization also offers client success coaching, a mentorship program, financial planning and budgeting tools, and career development resources.
 

Greener Real Estate

GWL Realty Advisors, Canada Life’s wholly owned real estate management subsidiary, manages all their corporate head offices and investment properties. 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.

As of 2023, 88% of GWL Realty Advisors’ eligible managed portfolio had green building certifications, representing 37.7 million square feet of its managed portfolio. 

Since 2009, Canada Life supports ReForest London, an organization that has planted thousands of trees on the company’s property and in parks across the city of London, Ontario, demonstrating the Canada Life’s commitment to a greener, healthier city. In addition to its ongoing support of ReForest programs, Canada Life’s recent capital contribution will support the city’s first environmental centre, driving sustainability in our community. Located next to London’s largest environmentally significant area, Westminster Ponds Centre will bring together organizations focused on climate action to create sustainable communities and economies through programming, services and education.  

Power Sustainable, through its platform Power Sustainable Energy Infrastructure, holds a controlling interest in LMPG, an internationally recognized designer, developer, and manufacturer of a wide range of high-performance and sustainable specification-grade LED solutions for commercial, institutional, and urban environments.
 

RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENTS

As long-term investors, we believe in investing in quality companies with attractive long-term growth prospects that are managed in a responsible manner. We integrate ESG factors in our investment analysis, which is helping encourage more sustainable consumption and production patterns at the companies where we invest. In addition, all of the Corporation’s publicly traded operating companies and alternative asset management businesses are signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment, either directly or through their operating companies. Great-West Lifeco, IGM Financial and GBL, as well as several of their own portfolio companies, are also supporters of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

IG Wealth Management and Mackenzie Investments are also members of the Responsible Investment Association.

RESPONSIBLE PROCUREMENT

We work collaboratively with our third parties to extend our responsible management philosophy through our Third Party Code of Conduct, and to encourage more sustainable products and services. In 2023 and in 2024, as part of our continuous Third Party Code deployment, we reached out to new key suppliers, consultants, advisors and other business partners, asking them to confirm their compliance to the requirements of our Code. By engaging with suppliers and contractors, we have been able to source more environmentally friendly products, including renewable natural gas, among others, to reduce our GHG emissions.

In its Canadian operations, Great-West Lifeco specifically engages its critical suppliers to understand the products and services that could reduce the environmental footprint of its buildings, operations, and processes. Supplier evaluation and its Supplier Risk Management Policy includes sustainability, including climate change, as one of its considerations. This includes suppliers that support the company in improving the sustainability of its real estate assets, as well as other products and services that enable them to reduce energy, water, and material consumption (e.g. building equipment retrofits, utility providers, data centre optimization, LED lighting, paper, and building materials). Working collaboratively with these suppliers enables Great-West Lifeco to meet its green building certification targets and its GHG Scope 1 and 2 reduction target for Canadian properties. Great-West Lifeco is also a member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and has committed to using responsibly sourced paper and other forest products that meet the FSC's strict environmental and social standards.

IGM Financial has several robust compliance policies, programs and controls that are regularly assessed and updated to align with changes in business models, client expectations and regulatory requirements. For instance, its Supplier Code of Conduct was put in place to address environmental and social risks in its supply chain and set out expectations for its suppliers. It includes provisions related to human rights and labour practices, and to improving environmental performance. They include ESG questions in all supplier RFPs to ensure alignment with their approach to sustainability. The company recently developed a company-wide Procurement Policy to guide it in sourcing, selecting and managing suppliers to meet their needs and mitigate potential risks. In addition, they launched a sustainable procurement program with a minimum weighting factor of 20% for ESG criteria in evaluating requests for proposals. 

IGM Financial’s Green Business Resource Group is committed to driving employee engagement around the environment and climate change. For instance, in 2023, 650 trees were planted in Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montral in partnership with TreeCanada. Lastly, over 95% IG Wealth Management’s business is conducted digitally, having eliminated almost all paper and cheques related to clients and other institutions. 

ENGAGEMENT

Great-West Lifeco’s subsidiary Irish Life Investment Managers engages with its portfolio companies regarding climate, including to encourage better climate-related disclosure practices among investees. For instance, in 2023, it participated in 198 collaborative engagement activities, including written communications and meetings, with 129 companies.  

Similarly, IGM Financial’s subsidiary Mackenzie Investments engages with investee companies and issuers to encourage the adoption of industry best practices to help preserve and enhance companies’ long-term value. The company believes that stewardship and active ownership require both a portfolio- and a corporate-level focus to be most effective. At the portfolio level, Mackenzie expects its investment teams to engage with companies or issuers on material ESG risks and opportunities that may impact the value they deliver to clients. From a corporate perspective, Mackenzie’s Sustainability Steering Committee sets the agenda for stewardship priorities that present the greatest risks to its overall investment exposure, and where it can make the most significant impact. Mackenzie’s current priorities are diversity, climate action and good governance. In 2023, Mackenzie engaged with 172 unique companies on 862 ESG-related topics. A top priority was net-zero engagements with companies identified as being among its 100 largest GHG emitters. Moreover, Mackenzie prioritizes net-zero engagements with the 100 companies contributing to 70% of its aggregated financed emissions in listed equities. By the end of 2023, Mackenzie’s stewardship and investment teams had met with 93 companies. Going forward, they plan to meet with each of these companies annually. 
 

CARBON EFFICIENCY

As a group, we are committed to playing our part in accelerating climate action and finding suitable financial solutions. From an investment standpoint, we are helping finance cleaner and renewable energy projects through Power Sustainable and Great-West Lifeco. Despite our limited environmental impact as a holding company, we make every effort to conserve resources, improve energy efficiency, and manage waste effectively.

Together with our major publicly traded operating companies, we continue to reduce our GHG emissions. 2024 marks Power Corporation’s thirteenth year responding to the CDP climate change questionnaire. In 2023, Power Corporation received a score of A- (Leadership) from the CDP, ranking in the top quartile of financial services companies globally. GBL and Great-West Lifeco also received a score of A-, while IGM Financial received a B score.  

As a global financial institution, Great-West Lifeco understands that its largest opportunity to address climate change stems from the activities they enable through loans, investments and insurance underwriting. In 2021, Great-West Lifeco announced its ambition of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions well before 2050 for its operations and by 2050 for financed emissions.

For its part, the IGM Financial group of companies announced in 2021 their climate commitment to becoming carbon neutral and supporting the transition to net zero. These commitments include investing towards a greener, climate resilient economy, collaborating and engaging to help share the global transition, and demonstrating alignment through corporate actions.

IGM Financial's subsidiary Mackenzie Investments joined the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative in 2022 and published its 2030 interim targets. The company has committed to manage 24% of its equity assets under management in line with net zero by 2030, with 50% of these assets having validated science-based targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) or equivalent. At year-end 2023, 25% of assets are committed to being managed in line with net zero, of which 41% have committed to science-based targets through SBTi. 

In addition, 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. 

CLIMATE ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH

To help the financial sector stand as a confident ally in the fight against climate change, the IGM Financial group of companies are engaging in regulatory and policy dialogue and collaborating with industry peers to advance science-based approaches, data and tools. Initiatives include the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, Climate Action 100+, Climate Engagement Canada, Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and the CDP (formerly the Climate Disclosure Project). In addition, IGM Financial’s subsidiaries IG Wealth Management and Mackenzie Investments, are founding signatories to the Canadian Investor Statement on Climate Change, calling for increased accountability in the private sector, and members of Climate Action 100+, an investor-led initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate GHG emitters take action on climate change. Moreover, Mackenzie prioritizes net-zero engagements with the 100 companies contributing to 70% of its aggregated financed emissions in listed equities. By the end of 2023, Mackenzie’s stewardship and investment teams had met with 93 companies. Going forward, they plan to meet with each of these companies annually. 

In 2023, IG Wealth Management encouraged its sub-advisors to join the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, Climate Action 100+ and Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero.