Intact Investment Management Position on Oil and Gas

Extreme weather events in Canada have increased by a factor of five over the past 30 years and insured losses from natural disasters have more than doubled every five to ten years since the 1980s*.  Intact Financial Corporation (IFC), Intact Investment Management Inc.’s (IIM) parent company, has been on the front lines of climate change with its customers and has seen first-hand the devastating impacts. We believe this is not an issue isolated to the insurance industry – it’s a societal one, and it is essential that everyone adapts to climate change. Over the past decade, IFC has made significant progress in helping society anticipate the consequences of climate change – but there is more to do.

We will use our expertise, scale and resources to address many aspects of climate change, from adaptation to the transition to net zero. This includes a commitment that IFC, including IIM, will be at net zero emissions by 2050. We will be taking an inclusionary approach to support our partners and we aim to help people, businesses and society de-risk the transition to a sustainable future. To this effect, IIM has joined Climate Engagement Canada, a finance-led initiative to promote a just transition to a net-zero economy.

IIM believes that engaging with companies to make the transition to a low carbon future is critical. Starting in 2022, IIM will look at its investment universe and identify the top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters of the oil and gas sector, both in intensity and on an absolute basis. IIM will assess the transition plan of those companies with an initial focus on the following areas:

• Disclosure on Scope 1 + 2 GHG total emissions and intensity;

• 2050 net-zero GHG emissions ambitions and strategies, including short- and medium-term reduction targets; and
• Climate change governance at the executive and board level.

While not required at this time, IIM encourages companies to consider:

• Aligning with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) reporting framework;
• Disclosing their Scope 3 emissions over time.

We expect our focus areas to evolve over time. We acknowledge that setting a path to net zero is not simple and it takes time and expertise to present a credible and action-oriented plan. In 2022, we will start engaging with our investee companies with unsatisfactory transition plans and expect tangible improvements within the next 24 months. Companies that do not respond or do not provide evidence of progress in their climate transition plan within the proposed timeline will be removed from our investment universe.

* Insurance Bureau of Canada: A Primer on Severe Weather and Overland Flood Insurance in Canada. 2019,
http://assets.ibc.ca/Documents/Resources/A-Primer-on-Severe-Weather-in-Canada.pdf