Environment Committee on Oct. 30th, 2024

[Adam Scott]

You get a long-term target in place and you say you're going to commit to net zero. The next step is to say, what are our benchmarks? We've been talking about five-year check-ins and plans, so what's the five-year target to make sure that investment decisions made today are made under that framework? You have to make sure that you have a plan to engage the companies that you own to make sure that they're aligning with your goals as well. That's a credible engagement plan. You're looking through and making sure that all of the investment decisions going forward are made through a lens of those details, and you want to make sure you have the expertise on board and you know how to understand this challenge and to have that internally in your organization.

We're also seeing funds allocating more capital towards climate solutions in their plans, and that requires a lot of skill, so that's an area where we're starting to see a lot of funds moving as well.

It's a difficult process, but those are the sorts of details you will see in a credible climate plan for an institution.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Scott.

Dr. Sarra, you mentioned small and micro businesses. Our representative from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is also concerned and preoccupied with their needs, as am I.

In this conversation around sustainable finance, how should small businesses understand this conversation and the impact that it potentially poses on their operations, given that many small businesses don't have a lot of flexibility or a lot of risk tolerance? They're trying to eke out a living in small communities across the country.

Is this conversation really focused on the biggest players in Canada's economy, or should small businesses also be concerned or at least paying attention to the direction this is going?

[Dr. Janis Sarra]

I think there are two aspects to that answer. Certainly, the CCLI's view is that for some of the big businesses there need to be parameters about what they're required to do, and climate action plans are important. As I mentioned, 98% of businesses would be unaffected by that in this country.

I think for small businesses, the taxonomy will be very helpful if they're trying to do innovative work in clean tech, new mining technology, etc. There's no question. We worked with the mining sector. For example, we had done a mining guide, but then we did another one with several industry organizations to look at really tiny businesses that were doing either just exploration or exploration pre-development, to see what kinds of concrete steps they could take to attract capital and to show that they have a commitment without any sort of big mandatory standards.

I think it's partly a question of.... “Education” is not the right word, but actually building capacity in the small, micro economy by supporting them, as opposed to a top-down kind of thing. I think there are huge possibilities there.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Dan Mazier]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bachrach.

I see we're out of resources and we don't have time for another round, so I will adjourn the meeting.

Thank you to the witnesses for coming out.

Thank you very much.