Canada's Large Employer Emergency facility has been created to provide bridging loans to Canada’s largest employers struggling during the pandemic and applies to companies with annual revenues of $300 million or more. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the facility this week and that it came with the requirement that those who apply for loans from the Canadian government must “commit to publish annual climate-related disclosure reports. Significantly, this includes how a company's future operations will support "environmental sustainability and national climate goals”.
THE REQUIREMENT IS SIGNIFICANT AS IT SPECIFICALLY LINKS CANADA'S COVID-19 STIMULUS AND FINANCING TO BUILDING A MORE RESILIENT CLIMATE FRIENDLY FUTURE.
What is also significant is that the loans will be extended to some of Canada’s most polluting industries, such as airlines and oil companies. The oil and gas industry received a separate $1.7 billion coronavirus relief package last month, which included significant funds for environmental cleanup projects and methane reduction.
WE ARE GOING TO SEE A LOT MORE OF THESE KINDS OF REQUIREMENTS. AND IT'S PARTICULARLY EXCELLENT BECAUSE IT'S ECONOMICALLY AND STRATEGICALLY DEFENSIBLE FROM A FINANCIAL RISK PERSPECTIVE, WHICH MAKES IT HARD FOR CLIMATE DENIERS TO UNDERMINE. AND THE NUMBERS GLOBALLY ARE EYE WATERING. The Canadian requirement is one of the first big government requirements and is consistent with the global The Investor Agenda (who have $50 trillion in funds) and which includes the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) here in Australia. In 2018 the The Investor Agenda issued a letter to the G20 countries telling them that investment forthwith would follow risk and among other things that required clear timelines for the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies and thermal coal power, and for the introduction of appropriate carbon pricing by 2020, as well as implementation of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) recommendations by 2020.
Image: Unsplash | Charles Deluvio