Supporting statement:
According to an online survey conducted by Léger Marketing and
the Association for Canadian Studies for The Canadian Press in
October 2022, 70% of Canadians are concerned or very concerned
about climate change. The high percentage of votes in favour of
our shareholder proposal last year is a clear reflection of this
concern in this country. This vote is also surely an expression of the
questioning of the corporation’s shareholders as to the breadth of
actions taken in environmental matters. The recent forest fires and
floods of the past year have done nothing to alleviate these
concerns, and there is every reason to believe that they will
exacerbate them.
A recent report1 by Oxfam Québec on the carbon footprint of the
country’s banking portfolios calls on shareholders to be more
demanding of the efforts made in this regard. One of the
observations taken from the report is worth highlighting:
“[ ] not only have none of Canada’s major DTIs committed to
withdrawing from the fossil fuel sector in the short or medium
term, but they all persist in presenting themselves as
participants in the energy transition and sustainable financing
aimed at either decarbonizing the processes of extraction,
transformation and/or use of fossil fuels or supporting
diversification of the “green” asset portfolios of companies in
the sector, particularly in the areas of green technologies and
renewable energy.”
The report even describes their initiatives as relatively unambitious:
“For example, the total C$850 billion pledged by BMO, RBC,
Scotiabank, CIBC and TD for 2020–2030, while not
inconsiderable, will ultimately represent only two-thirds of
their previously committed fossil fuel assets between 2016
and 2020 alone, which were in excess of C$1.3 trillion.”
We have little time left to clean up our environment and leave
future generations a better place to live. It is therefore important
for shareholders to be able to express their opinion on the breadth
of action that our companies wish to take over the next few years,
and to stimulate greater proactivity.
In France, a bill2 regarding say on climate would requires all listed
companies to submit their “climate and sustainability” strategy to
their shareholders every three years or whenever there is a
material change.