Following an extensive review process, today Export Development Canada (EDC) releases its updated Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) Framework policies. The five policies include: ESRM Policy, Climate Change Policy, Human Rights Policy, Transparency and Disclosure Policy, and the Environmental and Social Review Directive.
“We are dedicated to regularly evaluating and refining our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices,” said Lorraine Audsley, Chief Sustainability Officer at EDC. “Engaging with our stakeholders is integral to ensuring our commitments remain relevant, rigorous and respect our international obligations. Thanks to the feedback received, we updated our policies which further supports the work we are doing to meet net zero emissions by 2050, respect human rights, enhance transparency, and support our customers’ transition to a low-carbon economy.”
Conducted every three years, the review process enables EDC to identify opportunities to better align its policies with ESG best practices, business activities and customer needs.
EDC’s updated policies are available online along with a response paper that outlines the feedback received from stakeholders and specifically how EDC addressed their concerns. EDC’s next policy review and consultation will occur in 2025.
Highlights:
ESRM Policy: The policy was updated to recognize the connection between environmental and social issues and commits us to considering the impacts from both when assessing, managing and mitigating environmental and social risks.
Climate Change Policy: In line with our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, the updated policy includes commitments to disclose our financed emissions starting in 2024 and set science-based targets for priority sectors and products. Additionally, our position on thermal coal was updated to clarify our commitment regarding this sector.
Human Rights Policy: The policy now includes a separate section detailing considerations that help guide decisions on customer relationships, as well as language on the notion of exiting a customer relationship responsibly and/or applying leverage and remedy when appropriate.
Environmental and Social Review Directive: We have updated the policy to include our approach to multi-project transactions, where EDC’s support will be directed to more than one project via an overarching lending facility.
Transparency and Disclosure Policy: In line with our commitment to enhanced transparency on climate reporting, we will identify individually disclosed transactions (loans, guarantees, and equity) that fall under EDC’s cleantech business support on a go-forward basis. We will also improve the accessibility of our historical data by making all individually disclosed transactions publicly available on our website dating back to the policy’s origination in 2001.
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