TORONTO, April 9, 2019 /CNW/ - Every year, many parts of
the world experience severe weather events, wildfires, and
flooding. Last year in Canada
alone, insured damage from severe weather reached $1.9 billion.
"We know all too well the toll weather and climate-related
events are having on people's lives," says Kenn Lalonde, Executive Vice President, TD
Insurance (TDI). "We have an incredible opportunity – and
responsibility – to take meaningful action to address how we can
better protect and insure Canadians and better support the
Insurance industry when considering the increase of severe weather
events happening more regularly across our country."
TDI is leading and participating in several local, national and
international activities that focus on climate change and the
impact of severe weather including, our role as a signatory to the
United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI), and our
participation in to the United Nations Environment Programme
Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) led pilot to implement recommendations
of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
in the insurance industry – but we know that we can do more.
Today, TD Insurance is announcing the establishment of the
Advisory Board on Climate Change, a first for the Canadian
insurance industry. The Advisory Board will be comprised of experts
from Engineers Canada, and five top Canadian universities with
expertise in fields related to climate change, severe weather and
its impact on people and our planet.
Members of TDI's Advisory Board on Climate Change include:
Dr. Wiktor (Vic)
Adamowicz, Professor, Vice Dean, Agriculture Life and
Environmental Sciences, Resource Economics and Environmental
Sociology, University of Alberta
Dr. Eric Kennedy, Assistant
Professor, Disaster and Emergency Management Program, York University
David Lapp, P.Eng., Manager,
Globalization and Sustainable Development, Engineers Canada
Dr. Damon Matthews, Professor
and Concordia Research Chair in Climate Science and Sustainability,
Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia
University
Dr. Heather McShane, Program
Director and Catalyst-in-Chief, McGill Sustainability Systems
Initiative, McGill University
Dr. Walter Mérida, Associate Dean, Research and Industrial
Partnerships, Faculty of Applied Science, University of British Columbia
Dr. Peter Ricketts,
President, Acadia University
Joined by TDI executives and insurance industry experts, the
Advisory Board assembled on March 28
for its inaugural meeting in Toronto to kick-off the initiative and to
discuss key climate change issues and opportunities for change that
are of interest to TDI and the greater insurance industry.
"Our employees, customers, and partners have increasing
expectations that the corporations they deal with are at the very
least active, if not leaders, on issues that are of importance to
them," says Lalonde. "TD's environmental leadership is a source of
pride and we are building on this great legacy to inspire
confidence in our future for our customers, our colleagues, and our
communities."
TD Bank Group has long been involved in activities focused on
protecting the environment. Our Friends of the Environment
Foundation (FEF) was established in 1990 to support a wide range of
environmental initiatives primarily focusing on revitalizing public
green spaces, including planting 300,000 trees across Canada with the goal of planting one million
more by 2030.
In 2018 we launched our new corporate citizenship platform, The
Ready Commitment, which supports community giving in four focus
areas, Vibrant Planet among them. As part of this launch, we
announced our pledge to support the transition to a low carbon
economy with a CDN $100 billion
target in low-carbon lending, financing, asset management and other
programs by 2030.
TD's action to support the environment and a low-carbon
economy
- 2010: TD was the first North American bank to become carbon
neutral
- 2013-2018: TD recognized as top performing Canadian bank for
climate disclosure by CDP
- 2014: First Canadian bank to issue a green bond
- 2014: TD Insurance became the second Canadian-based signatory
to the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance
(PSI)
- 2017: Issued US$1 billion green
bond, TD's first in the United
States
- 2017: TD became one of 16 banks around the world to commit to
pilot the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board's Task
Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) under the
leadership of the United Nations Environment Programme – Finance
Initiative (UNEP-FI)
- 2018: TD is the only financial institution participating in all
three TCFD pilot projects to implement the recommendations of the
TCFD in the lending, asset management and insurance industries
- 2018: Since 2014, TD has been listed on the Dow Jones World
Sustainability Index
About TD Bank Group
The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively
known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the sixth
largest bank in North America by
branches and serves more than 25 million customers in three key
businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres
around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD
Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD
Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most
Convenient Bank®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth
(U.S.), and an investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking,
including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's
leading online financial services firms, with more than 12 million
active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.3 trillion in assets on January 31, 2019. The Toronto-Dominion Bank
trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges
SOURCE TD Insurance