Sustainable Finance

CIBC Capital Markets has a long history of advising clients in the energy, power and utilities sectors. In 2018 and 2019, CIBC contributed $26.4 billion toward sustainable finance activities, achieving a cumulative 18% of our 10-year target. Renewable and emissions-free energy represented the largest market sector at 68.5% of the total in 2019.

With a wide range of global sustainability challenges and complex non-financial risks on the rise, the world is in the midst of transitioning to stakeholder capitalism where sustainability is at the forefront of decision-making for corporations, asset managers and investors. We believe banks have an active role to play in the transition and, as such, are founding supporters of the Institute for Sustainable Finance’s mission of aligning mainstream financial markets with Canada’s transition to a lower carbon economy.

We are helping to create and establish guidelines on transition finance which will make a significant reduction of GHG emissions from carbon-intensive sectors. In order to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, many industries are transitioning their activities to be net-zero by 2050. These transition finance guidelines will help investors, companies and financial intermediaries in channeling and accessing capital to achieve these goals.

We are a funding member and active participant in the development of a “Transition Finance Taxonomy” as part of a National Standard of Canada for Transition Finance being led by the Canadian Standards Association. This work was initiated based on the recommendations put forward in the Government of Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance Final Report dated June 2019.

In addition, we are a member of the Climate Transition Finance Working Group established under the auspices of the International Capital Markets Association. The intent of this working group is to guide the market on best practices to qualify for transition finance.

Our highly ranked research team offers select ESG considerations as part of their economic, industry and company analysis. Our reports are complemented by corporate and analyst meetings to help keep clients on top of stock market activity and the outlook for different industries and companies.