Environment committee  Certification isn't an area that I'm an expert on, so I'm going to pass on that one. Thank you.

Environment committee  Our research suggests that there is, and that the number of sectors in which the capital markets are rewarding greater GHG productivity is already substantial, and it could grow over time.

Environment committee  Our research suggests that the cost of capital for companies that are performing better than their peers is lower because their valuations are higher. Therefore, if further delays occur, it's possible that the cost of capital for Canadian companies that are not leaders will increase.

Environment committee  This is an evolving space, and I think it is a complex one for companies to navigate. There is, I believe, an important consideration for any company: what their competitors and peers are doing. Once the CEO, board or management team of a company sees a certain practice being adopted by peers, it is relevant.

Environment committee  I will stick to the results of our research, which provide a certain perspective. On the one hand, disclosures are associated with a greater tendency to invest. On the other hand, carbon intensity performance in a number of sectors is now associated with better value added by the capital markets.

Environment committee  Predictability is an important concept in this environment, which is evolving and complex. In our research, we've observed that it's often in sectors where regulations have already been in place for some time that businesses with the best carbon intensity performance also find the best value.

Environment committee  Our analysis looked at all the companies in Canada that we could identify that have made sustainable capital investments. In 2019, the sustainable capital investments made by companies that, coincidentally, disclosed their emissions were, on average, six times higher than those made by companies that did not.

Environment committee  The past is no indication of the future. Obviously, that's a political decision. The government must take a stand. Our research nevertheless gives us a perspective suggesting that companies that publish disclosures have the opportunity to compare themselves to their peers in terms of their carbon intensity and, potentially, the proportion of their capital investments aimed at growing the sustainable qualities of the company.

Environment committee  Absolutely, we're comparing apples to apples, internationally and domestically.

Environment committee  In the second part of our research, we simply looked at emissions divided by revenue. It's standardized by sector. I think that answers your question. Carbon emission efficiency is calculated on the basis of a firm's total economic activity.

Environment committee  We use a database that includes data on sustainable investments from all sectors of the economy. What we see across all sectors is that the sustainable investments made by companies that disclose their scope 1 and 2 emissions are six times greater than the sustainable investments made by companies that don't disclose their scope 1 and 2 emissions.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the committee members for the opportunity to appear today. Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that this meeting is taking place on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people, and I am grateful for their thousands of years of stewardship on this land.