An active
portfolio to
accelerate the
transition.

We invest in sustainable solutions to encourage all players in the economy to reduce GHG emissions. This is how we ensure a fair and orderly transition in the highest-emitting industries.

Since the implementation of our first climate strategy in 2017, we have taken decisive action, including completing our exit from oil production and coal mining; we no longer want to contribute to the supply of these two types of energy, which are not energies of the future.

To preserve the long-term value of our assets, we have positioned them advantageously by limiting their exposure to climate and transition risks.

$53 B

in low-carbon assets

$5 B

in transition assets

$82 B

in SBTi-compliant or
near‑compliant assets

$330 B

in assets with
a low-carbon footprint

1

Our low-carbon assets

Investing in green assets directly reduces the impact of climate change, so we continuously seek to increase the value of these assets in our portfolio. This includes investments in real estate, renewable energy and transportation, as well as in emerging sectors such as energy storage and efficiency, and green hydrogen.

OUR TARGET FOR 2025

$54 B in
low-carbon assets

Low-carbon assets comply with the most rigorous standards worldwide, based on the taxonomy of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) (Chart 2).

$53 B

in low-carbon assets as at December 31, 2023

Of these assets, a total of $15 billion is in Québec. They include wind farms, an electric vehicle charging network and several buildings with numerous energy efficiency certifications.

Chart 2
CDPQ is on track to meet its target of $54 billion in low-carbon assets by 2025 (in $B)

*Includes the new sectors from CBI’s taxonomy.

Low-carbon assets

In 2023, a number of low-carbon assets were added to our portfolio worldwide.

Verene Energia

  • Acquisition of a strategic 695-km power transmission network in Brazil
  • Transmission of significant renewable energy output for consumption in the south and southeast of the country

Invenergy Renewables

  • Acquisition of a portfolio of 14 projects representing nearly 1.4 GW of renewable energy
  • Investment to support an accelerated energy transition in 11 U.S. states

Texas Tower

  • 47-storey rental office tower in Houston, Texas
  • A property that has achieved LEED, WELL, SmartScore and WiredScore Platinum certifications—the pinnacle of sustainability, health and technology

CIBC Square – 81 Bay Street

  • 49-storey office tower in Toronto’s financial district
  • One of the most connected and attractive work environments in the world, with LEED, WELL and SmartScore Platinum certifications
New assets

A growing number of our portfolio companies are actively engaged in the transition. They meet the standards of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which ensures that assets are aligned with the Paris Agreement. Obtaining this certification can take up to two years.

Our portfolio has $50 billion in SBTi-compliant assets and another $32 billion in the process of becoming compliant. When this is added to our low-carbon assets ($53 billion), we have $135 billion aligned with the Paris Agreement.

$135 B

in assets aligned with
the Paris Agreement

As a result, we have three levels of assets involved in the fight against climate change: low-carbon assets, SBTi-compliant assets and assets in the process of becoming compliant (Figure 3).

Figure 3
Our portfolio has three levels of assets involved in fighting against climate change
The figure shows a podium displaying our three levels of assets involved in the fight against climate change: low-carbon assets are in first place, followed by SBTi-compliant assets then SBTi-near-compliant assets.
SBTi assets

OUR SUSTAINABLE BONDS

In July 2023, Ivanhoé Cambridge became the first real estate investor to issue a senior unsecured sustainable bond in Canada, in the amount of $300 million. The bond will be used to finance or refinance projects that qualify under its new Sustainable Financing Framework. Eligible ecological or social projects are defined according to their association with one or more categories, including green buildings, renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable water and wastewater management. This issuance brings the value of Ivanhoé Cambridge’s sustainable financing program to $19 billion since its launch in 2019.

OUR FIRST GREEN LOAN

In 2023, Otéra Capital granted its first green loan to Carttera’s Portland Commons, a new high-performance office building under construction in downtown Toronto. Designed to meet rigorous environmental criteria and focused on the well-being of communities, Portland Commons is targeting environmental standards such as LEED and WELL, and to be certified net-zero.

OUR SUSTAINABLE VALUATION OF REAL ESTATE ASSETS

The real estate sector must integrate the transition’s impacts into the financial valuation of buildings. To that end, Ivanhoé Cambridge has developed an internal indicator called the green internal rate of return (Green IRR), which provides a more comprehensive assessment of the financial benefits associated with projects to reduce the carbon emissions of properties. It identifies assets that are financially sensitive to climate risks and could benefit from a decarbonization plan. This is an important tool for limiting property obsolescence, thereby meeting the growing expectations of investors, tenants and users for more sustainable buildings—see the video (in French only).

Sustainable initiatives
OUR TARGET FOR 2030

Reduce the carbon intensity of our portfolio by 60% compared to 2017.

2

Our carbon intensity

Since 2017, we have been measuring the carbon intensity of our portfolio using an NZAOA-approved methodology. This includes the vast majority of our emissions, i.e. Scope 3, Category 15, as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

To calculate our intensity, we only use the Scope 1 and 2 emissions of our portfolio companies. For now, data on their Scope 3 emissions are either unavailable or not sufficiently reliable to be included in our calculations—see Appendix 2, Table 16.

The investment teams of each asset class must stay within their own carbon budgets. Our total portfolio’s carbon intensity has therefore continuously decreased since 2017. As at December 31, 2023, it was 32.2 tCO2e/M$ compared to 79.4 tCO2e/M$ on the same date in 2017 (Chart 4).

In 2023, the carbon intensity of our portfolio decreased by 59% from our 2017 starting point.

This decrease is directly attributable to our sustainable investments and the decarbonization efforts of our portfolio companies. It is also associated with a sharp drop in the portfolio’s absolute footprint—see Appendix 2, Chart 14.

We are very close to achieving our 2030 target. However, the change in our portfolio’s carbon intensity will not necessarily be linear over the next few years. It could be influenced by various factors, including asset values and investment opportunities in transition sectors.

Chart 4
CDPQ records a sustained decrease in its portfolio’s carbon intensity (in tCO2e/M$) since 2017
Carbon intensity
Chart 5
The perimeter for calculating the carbon footprint in dollars invested and in CO2 emissions
This stacked bar chart has two horizontal bars showing the portfolio’s composition in 2023. One bar shows information in dollars invested and the other shows the information in terms of the carbon emissions. We note that: • Low-carbon assets and low-intensity sectors represent 79% of the portfolio’s value, but only account for 21% of the total carbon footprint • The energy, industrials, materials and non-renewable electricity sectors represent 21% of the portfolio’s value, but contribute 82% of the total carbon footprint. This stacked bar chart has two horizontal bars showing the portfolio’s composition in 2023. One bar shows information in dollars invested and the other shows the information in terms of the carbon emissions. We note that: • Low-carbon assets and low-intensity sectors represent 79% of the portfolio’s value, but only account for 21% of the total carbon footprint • The energy, industrials, materials and non-renewable electricity sectors represent 21% of the portfolio’s value, but contribute 82% of the total carbon footprint.

The calculation perimeter of the carbon footprint ($422 billion) comprises investments in sectors with widely ranging GHG emissions.

Nearly 79% of the portfolio is in low-carbon assets or assets in low‑intensity sectors.

This represents over $330 billion of assets with a low‑carbon footprint.

The remaining 21% are assets in sectors essential to the transition, such as energy production, industry—particularly transportation and construction—and materials (Chart 5, grey area, top band).

This portion represents 82% of our total footprint (Chart 5, grey area, bottom band). In order to reduce this footprint, we engage these major emitters around improving their production processes and reducing their emissions.

Carbon footprint
3

Our transition assets

For the last several years, we have been supporting companies in heavy emitting sectors in their decarbonization strategies. The targeted sectors are:

  • Agriculture
  • Electricity production
  • Transportation
  • Materials

We believe that these sectors are essential to the economy, but they need to begin optimizing their processes now in order to limit their contribution to global emissions, in particular through alignment with the Paris Agreement.

OUR COMMITMENT

A $10-billion envelope to decarbonize the highest-emitting sectors

ACCELERATING THE TRANSITION

We made our first investments in the energy transition in 2015. Our deployment of capital was conditional to the transformation of these companies, which needed to transition from highly carbon-intensive energy consumption to more sustainable solutions, such as renewable energy. With our support, they have made their mark as some of the first in their regions to develop ambitious SBTi-certified decarbonization plans. These are concrete examples of our deployment of constructive capital in transition assets.

We now hold $5 billion in transition assets.

We have since invested in many companies that have transition plans that meet the specific criteria defined by the CBI or SBTi. Here are two examples:

Gunn Agri Partners

CDPQ entered into a strategic partnership with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), an Australian government-owned green bank. This partnership has led to the creation of a platform to invest $178 million over three years to acquire agricultural land in Australia. The acquired land will be managed by Gunn Agri Partners, which will employ sustainable and regenerative farming practices.

AGL Energy

We financed Australian energy company AGL Energy, which serves close to 4.3 million customers. We are supporting the completion of its transition plan, which targets replacing coal-fired electricity with renewable energy generation by June 2035, up to a decade earlier than previously announced.

Accelerating the transition

New transactions over the past two years bring the carbon footprint of the transition envelope to 2.1 MtCO2e (Chart 6), or a carbon intensity of 1,782 tCO2e/M$—see Appendix 2 for the calculation methodology.

Based on the decarbonization plans of the companies included in the transition envelope, our capital could help them reduce their collective footprint by 31% by 2030 and 85% by 2035.

Chart 6
Projected evolution in the transition envelope’s carbon footprint (in MtCO2e)
This bar chart shows the projected change in the transition envelope footprint from 2022 to 2035. It also shows the projections for reducing emissions 31% by 2030 and 85% by 2035 by companies included in the transition envelope. This bar chart shows the projected change in the transition envelope footprint from 2022 to 2035. It also shows the projections for reducing emissions 31% by 2030 and 85% by 2035 by companies included in the transition envelope.
Transition plan
OUR CONVICTION

It is essential not to contribute to increased oil and coal production and to focus on renewable and transition energies.

4

Our plan
for fossil fuels

We have completed our exit from oil production and thermal coal mining. We are one of the only major global institutional investors to have acted so quickly.

OIL AND COAL

Since announcing our first climate strategy in 2017, we have scaled back the presence of large emitters in our portfolio and invested directly in the transition of the real economy, in line with our sustainability objectives.

Oil production, including extraction and refining, as well as thermal coal mining and power generation, now figure among our investment exclusions (Chart 7). This applies to both new operational or expansion projects and companies in this sector. Investments in or financing of new oil pipelines are also excluded. This covers both public and private companies, as well as projects involving such activities.

In addition, as a member of NZAOA, we are committed to complying with the conditions set out in the document Alliance Thermal Coal Position:

  • No investments in or financing of new power generation projects that use thermal coal
  • Withdrawal from projects or companies that are not aligned with a decarbonizing trajectory of 1.5 °C:
    • by 2030 in industrialized countries
    • by 2040 in emerging countries

We have already taken action to fulfill these commitments, and our support for our portfolio companies in the sector is paying off, as described in the Our transition assets section.

Chart 7
Renewable energy assets represent a growing share of our portfolio, while oil and coal production is now excluded (in $B)
Oil and
coal

Natural gas

Although the supply of renewable energy is growing, it is unable to meet all the current demand for energy. In order to meet this demand, we still need transition energies, which are much less polluting than oil and coal. This is why we still held assets in the natural gas sector as at December 31, 2023. At around $16 million in total, our actively managed exposure to extraction is relatively limited. Instead, our investments are more focused on transmission and distribution infrastructure. Such assets represent around 1.6% of our total portfolio. However, we are keeping a close eye on these assets and their commitment to the transition.

Énergir

Natural gas accounts for 15% of Québec’s energy profile. CDPQ is the majority shareholder in Énergir, the largest natural gas distributor in the province. This company is well aware of the footprint it generates. This is why it has drawn up a concrete plan to limit and reduce its emissions, as well as those of its customers, by 2030. The plan takes into account the principle of a fair and orderly transition. It was drawn up in collaboration with the organization’s various stakeholders, including the Québec government and Hydro-Québec, to ensure affordable energy security that is consistent with Québec’s commitments in terms of its climate ambition. The decarbonization solutions being implemented are targeted at reducing the volumes of fossil natural gas distributed and at gradually making the residual volume renewable. To that end, Énergir promotes energy efficiency and complementarity with electricity through dual energy and distributes renewable natural gas produced from organic and agricultural residues. As of 2024, 100% of new connections to residential, commercial and institutional buildings will have to use this type of energy. The company annually reports on progress made toward its objectives in its Climate Resiliency Report.

Natural
gas
5

Our biodiversity initiatives

Since COP15 and the signing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in December 2022, biodiversity has become increasingly important in the financial sector.

Our ESG analyses take it into consideration, when it is material and depending on the nature of the project. However, given the complexity of the subject, the tools that are available to measure potential impacts on biodiversity lack precision and remain less than perfect. To meet this challenge, we have undertaken numerous initiatives to improve our knowledge of this topic and develop the right tools for our investment analyses.

We continued our innovative research project in 2023, bringing together the academic and financial communities as well as non-governmental organizations in collaboration with Fondaction, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS Québec) and Biodiversité Québec. These deliberations are now concluded, and we have identified the 10 themes that will lead to the design of indicators for the financial sector. Methodologies are now being developed for applying these indicators, a process that will continue over the coming year.

In the wake of joining FAIRR, a globally recognized organization that facilitates cooperation among investors on ESG issues related to the food sector, we have committed to the second phase of the global initiative. The goal is to reduce the risks posed by organic animal waste, which affects water quality and soil fertility. We also participated in a collaborative engagement campaign aimed at seven companies to limit pollution in the animal-based protein sector.

We continued to take part in the TNFD Forum, a multidisciplinary advisory group of over 1,000 organizations worldwide that is focused on supporting the development of a shared nature-related risk management and disclosure framework for companies and financial institutions. A first version of the framework was launched in September 2023. Over the next year, we will participate in discussions and consultations to facilitate the framework’s implementation in various sectors of the economy.

In 2020, a group of global investors representing $1.5 trillion in assets was created, with the support of Cambridge University, to respond in concrete ways to certain targeted systemic risks, including biodiversity and antimicrobial resistance. CDPQ has been a part of this partnership from the outset and is actively involved in several working groups, in particular on how best to integrate biodiversity into investment processes.

We have joined Nature Action 100, a collaborative initiative that supports investors in engaging companies in the fight against nature loss. In 2024, we will take up these issues with a number of portfolio companies to have them change their business models and limit their environmental impacts.

SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT

Formed in 2020 within the Infrastructure portfolio, our Sustainable Land Management team aims to deploy up to $2 billion by 2026 in the forest and agricultural land sectors. Investments made comply with the highest ESG standards and have positive long-term benefits for the environment. Among these assets, $370 million is focused on carbon capture, wetlands restoration and species protection.

In 2023, we announced two new transactions in these sectors.

WESTERVELT ECOLOGICAL SERVICES

We have consolidated our strategic partnership with The Westervelt Company by investing in Westervelt Ecological Services, a leader in habitat restoration and long-term land stewardship. The new funds will accelerate the company’s mission of implementing ecological infrastructure projects. The company currently manages over 50 projects in nine U.S. states, protecting nearly 35,000 acres of wetlands, streams and vulnerable species habitats.

Gunn Agri Partners

We have entered into a new strategic partnership with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), a green bank that is owned by the Australian government and will be managed by Gunn Agri Partners. This transaction is also part of our transition envelope.

Sustainable land management
Photo: Kahnawà:ke Environment
Protection Office
CASE STUDIES

As part of the consultations for the development of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), CDPQ Infra entered into a financial contribution agreement with the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) to improve usability of Tekakwitha Island for community members and wildlife.

Kahnawà:ke removed invasive exotic plants (Phragmites) and created two new wetland complexes. Additionally, brown snake hibernation and turtle nesting and basking areas were created, providing new habitats for at-risk species.

We have once again used our shareholder vote to oppose the re-election of Board members at nine companies. Our goal is to publicly express our disagreement with measures we consider insufficiently ambitious in terms of decarbonization. The individuals targeted are responsible for sustainability and climate-related issues on their Boards.

We select these companies using information disclosed by Climate Action 100+. Each year, this group of investors identifies the largest GHG emitters that are not sufficiently ambitious in the fight against climate change. Our aim is to encourage the companies we have targeted to reform their practices and set more ambitious targets.

We are signatories to a collaborative engagement campaign that seeks to reduce methane emissions. Spearheaded by Nordea, a banking company, the campaign targets companies that produce large quantities of methane and encourages them to join the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0), a benchmark in methane measurement, disclosure and target setting. We have sent letters to five of our portfolio companies to encourage them to join this initiative and develop best practices in emission reduction.

Energize Capital is a leading climate software investor focused on scaling sustainable innovation. In 2023, CDPQ continued its partnership with this external manager by supporting its approach and innovative business model. Its activities cover key themes at the intersection of software and renewable energy, industrial operations, electrification and mobility, energy infrastructure, and decarbonization. Energize estimates that its portfolio companies helped avoid more than 9.8 MtCO2e in 2022.

Our active collaboration with Energize is strengthened by our presence on the Limited Partners Advisory Committee (LPAC) and the LP ESG and Impact Advisory Board. The purpose of CDPQ’s presence on these committees is threefold: to provide the LPAC with CDPQ’s strategic perspective on energy transition investment opportunities, to help Energize better understand evolving expectations and best practices for LPs in relation to impact and ESG, and to provide CDPQ with insight into the ongoing development of impact and ESG approaches specific to early-stage and growth investments in climate technologies.