TD Bank Group hosted a meeting of UNEP Finance Initiative’s Canadian members in Toronto on 10^th of May. The meeting was chaired by Nicole Vadori, Associate Vice President and Head of Environment, TD and attended by Eric Usher Head of UNEP FI. More than 30 representatives from members in Canada attended.

Maz Moini, Chief Operating Officer, Global Corporate & Specialty, Aviva Canada and Insurance Regional Advisory Board Member chaired the session, Emerging approaches to sustainable finance and climate change across the financial sector, which included a presentation by Tiff Macklem from the Canadian Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance.

The Panel was convened to consult Canada’s financial market participants on behalf of the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change (ECCC) and Finance, on issues related to sustainable finance, including climate-related disclosures. Mr Macklem discussed the issues covered by the consultation across Canada which led to the final recommendations report expected in Spring 2019.

Barbara Turley-McIntyre, Vice President, Sustainability & Citizenship, The Co-operators Group Limited and a Global Steering Committee Member led the discussion with Tiff on how Canadian financial institutions can support the implementation of the Expert Panel’s recommendations.

Eric Usher presented updates on the progress of UNEP FI’s projects piloting the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and findings from the new investor guidance, Changing Course: A comprehensive investor guide to scenario-based methods for climate risk assessment, in response to the TCFD. The report presents the results of our latest pilot – following the release of two reports detailing new methodologies piloted by banks last year.

The meeting provided a good opportunity for members to convene and discuss the latest developments in sustainable finance in Canada and developing discussions globally. The discussion was received very well by participating members who continue to work together in support of the sustainable finance agenda in the region.