Environment
We are conscientious about the environmental impacts of our business.
EDC is committed to the environment from facilitating exports of Canadian environmental solutions to reviewing the environmental impacts of projects that it considers financing.
Environment Review Practices
International Commitments
Environmental and Social Reporting
EnviroExport
EDC's Environmental Footprint
Environmental Review Practices
EDC's Environmental Policy (PDF Format) governs the Corporation’s overall environmental commitments. This policy establishes the principles that are followed when assessing the environmental risks of transactions that EDC is asked to support.
EDC's Environmental Review Directive establishes the systematic process that EDC follows when assessing the environmental impacts of projects it is asked to support.
- Frequently asked questions about EDC’s environmental review process
International Commitments
In the interest of advancing the incorporation of environmental risk assessment into officially-supported export credits, EDC adopted and implemented the OECD Recommendation on Common Approaches on Environment. The OECD Common Approaches Agreement is an international multilateral consensus on environmental review practices that aims to level the international playing field and ensure that projects supported by Export Credit Agencies meet established international environmental standards.
EDC adopted the Equator Principles in October 2007, a financial industry benchmark for determining, assessing and managing social and environmental risk in project financing. Adopting the Equator Principles reflects EDC’s ongoing commitment to conduct its international business in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and confirms the strength of its existing CSR policies.
In 2008, EDC reviewed six projects under the Equator Principles, including one Category A, two Category B and three Category C projects. For project reporting during this period, please see EDC's 2008 CSR Report.
EDC has also signed the United Nations Environmental Program Statement by Financial Institutions on the Environment and Sustainable Development in recognition of the importance of supporting common environmental practices.
Environmental and Social Reporting
When EDC is considering providing support in the form of financing or political risk insurance to lenders, or equity to the project sponsor of a Category A project under the Environmental Review Directive, EDC will seek consent to inform the public via its Environmental and Social Reporting that it is considering support to such project. This section includes a list of Category A projects that were approved for EDC support.
Case studies
- Monitoring the Ambatovy nickel and cobalt project, Madagascar
- Hospitals project, Turks and Caicos
- Petrobras corporate facility, Brazil
- Brookfield real estate project, USA
- Mobile telephone network project, Ukraine
EnviroExport
Recent decades have seen the emergence of a large market for the remediation of environmental problems and the development of clean technologies. The global market demand for these water purification, solid waste management and clean energy technologies exceeds $1 trillion per year. Through its EnviroExport Program (PDF Format), EDC has been actively involved in helping Canadian environmental exporters succeed internationally. Among other activities, our financing products help to support around one-third of Canadian exports in this area. View a list of products classified as environmental exports.
Case studies
- Ventus Energy: Wind power (PDF Format)
- ICP Solar Technologies: Solar Technology (PDF Format)
EDC’s Environmental Footprint
In 2007, EDC's Green Team was created to look at ways of reducing the corporation's environmental footprint. This team consists of an all-volunteer employee engagement committee representing business and corporate functions throughout the organization. The team provides a forum to develop new ideas and allows employees to bring to the table their creativity and passion to bear on environmental recommendations. View baseline data on EDC's internal environmental footprint.
