Desjardins raised $12 billion to invest in sustainability-related funds in 2021, a 50% increase from 2020.
In just one year, Desjardins has recorded much more than the $8 billion collected in 30 years for this type of investment launched in 1990.
” It’s incredible. There really is an underlying trend,” said Guy Cormier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Desjardins Group, yesterday in an interview with The newspaper.
Strong demand from savers
The growing expectations of its members in terms of the environment are pushing Desjardins to develop its responsible investment offering. With a range of 30 financial products, the institution prides itself on having a particularly diversified offer.
The funds invested make it possible to support so-called “green” companies, such as renewable energy projects, and refrain from financing highly polluting sectors, for example the oil industry. For Mr. Cormier, it’s concrete and it helps influence businesses to become more sustainable.
“It’s real money that is then invested in companies,” he adds.
In addition to customer demand, it is also a question of shared responsibility, believes the boss. Banks have a role to play in the fight against climate change and Desjardins wants to exercise leadership in this area. Its ambition: to make its financing and investment activities – in the transport, energy and real estate sectors, three of the most polluting sectors – carbon neutral by 2040.
For Guy Cormier, corporate responsibility must be placed at the forefront.
“My dream is that we will give as much importance to ESG results [critères environnementaux et sociaux] than to companies’ quarterly financial results,” he says.
The public and investors would still have to have access to reliable data from banks and companies. Today, each company chooses, or not, to disclose information. And each does it in their own way. We are comparing apples with oranges.
The Desjardins boss believes that change is imminent. Serious work has been carried out by the ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board) for a year. They aim to create harmonized sustainability criteria, similar to international accounting standards.
Credible commitments
Although he refuses to comment on the Competition Bureau’s investigation into which his competitor RBC is subject for greenwashing, Mr. Cormier is keen to emphasize the credibility of Desjardins’ climate commitments.
“We don’t get up in the morning at Desjardins looking at our competitors […], he replies. We have a 2040 climate road, we want to be carbon neutral with our financing and investment activities. […] We’re going to play our own game properly, then we’ll make sure we get 10 out of 10.” The institution has just trained its sales teams “to make sure they don’t fall into greenwashing” . A question of credibility and trust, underlines the president of Desjardins.