Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It also has a gender-balanced board of directors where six out of 11 members are women. The financial institution describes its approach to engagement on sustainability themes and impact topics with investees, including how it is implied in practice. Additionally, the financial institution publishes case studies describing where it has engaged successfully with investees on sustainability themes and impact topics.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It also discloses that alignment with the Paris Agreement is one of its engagement topics and, as a member of Climate Action 100+, collectively engages on the topic of climate change. The financial institution discloses the aggregate amount of finance it devotes to climate solutions while specifying what these solutions are. It also defines its climate solutions according to internationally adopted frameworks. The financial institution discloses absolute financed emissions, including the underlying data quality and coverage of its financed emissions.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights, as well as bribery and corruption, concerns or complaints. The financial institution also prohibits bribery and corruption and commits to respecting the health and safety of workers, in public policy documents. Additionally, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board discloses a global tax strategy.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, there is no evidence that Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board assigns responsibility for sustainability to the group’s highest governing body. Moreover, there is no evidence that the financial institution links the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. On the topic of remuneration, the financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. It could also disclose the actions taken to address any pay gaps. While the financial institution describes its approach to engagement on sustainability themes, it has an opportunity to include clear frameworks with success criteria and escalation points.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board aims to reduce portfolio emissions intensity by 45% by 2025 and 67% by 2030. There is an opportunity for the financial institution to disclose an absolute interim financed emissions reduction target, rather than an intensity-based target. It could also discloses a time-bound target explicitly for its climate solutions. Regarding engagement on the topic of climate change, the financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on alignment with the Paris Agreement. Regarding nature and biodiversity, no evidence was found that the financial institution is committed to minimising its negative impacts or financing regenerative solutions.

There is no evidence that Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights laid out in the UNGPs and the ILO declaration on fundamental rights at work. The financial institution has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, the financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards, for example, women-owned businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or low-income developing countries. In terms of workforce diversity, the financial institution discloses the ages and genders of its board members, but has an opportunity to disclose this information for each employee category.