York University’s Schulich School of Business, the top ranked school in Canada for sustainability, and Corporate Knights, one of the world’s leading sustainable economy media and research companies, are developing one of Canada’s first ever climate finance indexes. The new national index will track and measure corporate spending targeted at accelerating decarbonization efforts.

As part of the process of developing the index, Corporate Knights and Schulich will host a session on Wednesday, June 26 involving two dozen leaders from the building, transportation and power sectors who will engage in a cross-sector approach at finding ways to measure decarbonization. The session will take place in the former TSX boardroom at Schulich’s downtown management centre and will be moderated by Diane Fox Carney, a public policy expert with a strong focus on energy and climate change.

Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights, called the meeting a “gathering of Canadian industry leaders driving the growth of Canada’s clean economy” and said the index being developed will provide synthesis metrics showing actual annual investments in climate solutions in relation to what is required to decarbonize Canada’s transport, power and buildings sectors.

Olaf Weber, the CIBC Chair in Sustainable Finance at Schulich, is spearheading the initiative on behalf of the School. According to Professor Weber, the development of a climate finance index “addresses the uncertainties around what companies really do to achieve their climate goals.” Adds Weber: “An index that addresses how much companies invest to achieve their goals presents a more objective indicator than general announcements in sustainability reports.”

The index will serve as a useful tool for companies to track and measure their climate performance against peers within their industries while also providing important information for governments formulating public policy decisions around decarbonization.

Following the meeting, Corporate Knights magazine will publish the synthesis report detailing Canada's Climate Investment Gap and will unveil the new Climate Finance Index, with index weightings by sector to show Canada's climate investments versus requirements. Sustainability experts at the Schulich School of Business will provide in-depth analysis of the Climate Finance Index results.

About Schulich

Known as Canada’s Global Business School™, the Schulich School of Business in Toronto is ranked #1 in Canada and among the world’s leading business schools by a number of global MBA surveys, including The Economist, Forbes, and QS. The Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program is ranked #9 in the world by The Economist, #9 in the world among joint programs by QS MBA, and #1 in Canada by the Financial Times.

Global, innovative, and diverse, Schulich offers business programs year-round at its state-of-the-art complex at York University; at its Miles S. Nadal Management Centre located in the heart of the Toronto’s financial district; and at its campus in Hyderabad, India. The School also has strategic and academic partnerships with a number of the world’s leading business schools in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Schulich offers undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate business degrees that lead to rewarding careers in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, and has more than 35,000 alumni working in over 90 countries. The School pioneered North America’s first ever cross-border Executive MBA degree, the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA. The School has one of the largest portfolios of one-year, specialized Masters programs of any business school in North America. Schulich’s Executive Education Centre provides executive development programs annually to more than 5,000 executives in Canada and abroad. 

For more information, please contact:

Sarah Hayward, Marketing and Communications CoordinatorSchulich School of Business Email: shayward@schulich.yorku.ca

Follow SchulichX | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook