TORONTO — Sarah Petrevan, policy director at Clean Energy Canada, made the following statement regarding the prime minister’s announcement of new bridge financing measures to support medium- and large-sized Canadian businesses that includes requiring recipients to develop strategies to meet Canada’s climate goals:
“These are challenging times for many businesses in Canada, and it’s important that governments are there to support workers and companies as they manage through this crisis.
“It’s also essential that we help businesses become more resilient long-term by identifying risks and opportunities and developing plans to address them. The effects of climate change—from floods to fires—can have major impacts on businesses, including displacing supply-chains, impacting the operations of facilities, and affecting jobs. Similarly, the transition to a low-carbon economy can create both business risks and opportunities.
“In the words of former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, with climate change, ‘companies that don’t adapt will go bankrupt.’
“Canada is lagging behind a number of jurisdictions when it comes to sharing information on the risk level its businesses would be exposed to in a changing world. This is an opportunity to catch up with those in the leading pack, and it’s an opportunity to set our businesses up for success.”
KEY FACTS
- The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) is a group of industry and finance experts brought together by the Financial Stability Board, under the leadership of Mark Carney.
- The goal of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures is to help companies understand how climate change impacts them and share this information with the outside world
- As of February 2020, support for the TCFD has grown to more than 1,027 companies, representing a market capitalization of over $12 trillion
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Read the final report from the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures
