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Description

Climate Change and Competitiveness in Canada is a four-part education series designed to equip directors with cutting-edge insights and information to help shape their climate governance strategies in a Canadian context.

Register for the series and gain instant access to all four of the 75-minute sessions.

Eligibility

The Climate Change and Competitiveness in Canada education series is ideal for boards of directors of For-Profit, Crown and Not-For-Profit organizations who want to improve oversight of climate change in a Canadian context.

Objectives

  • Participants will gain an understanding of:
    • Current and emerging climate-associated risks and opportunities
    • What directors need to know about climate change reporting for success
    • The Canadian board’s role in climate strategy creation and implementation
    • The board’s role in enabling innovation and technology as tools for climate change competitiveness

Benefits

Participants will benefit from the collective insights and experiences of renowned climate change experts and distinguished directors, ultimately gaining the necessary knowledge to enhance their contributions to climate change discussions in the boardroom.

Session 1: Climate-Associated Risks and Opportunities: An Overview of Emerging Issues

  • Gain unique insights on developments related to the most pressing climate-related physical and transition risks, and emerging opportunities, impacting Canadian organizations.   Also, understand how analysis of these risks and opportunities should be addressed at the board level.

    • Understand the factors driving the financial analysis of climate risk
    • Hear unique perspectives on emerging climate-related risks that should be on boards’ radars:
      • Legal and regulatory risks
      • Reputational risk
      • Investment risk related to low-carbon transition
      • Market, products and services risk
      • Physical risks
    • Gain insights on how these risks, and opportunities, are taking shape in different organizations and what they could mean for organizations such as yours

Session 2: Climate Change Reporting for Success: What Directors Need to Know

  • Navigate the myriad of reporting models: the acronyms, the differentiating factors, and what others in your industry are using and why.  Learn how to leverage climate change reporting for various purposes.  Examine real-life disclosures and understand what makes them successful-- walk away with strategies to bring back to your boards.

    • Sustainability and climate-related disclosure and reporting trends advanced by both the Canadian and global investor communities
    • Understand the ecosystem of climate-related projects, task forces and standards boards and determine what is most relevant to your organization:
      • TCFD- Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosure
      • SASB- Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
      • CDSB- Climate Disclosure Standards Board
      • GRI- Global Reporting Initiative
      • CDP-Carbon Disclosure Project
      • UN PRI—Principles for Responsible Investment
    • What do robust sustainability performance metrics (and other disclosures) look like in the context of enterprise risk, strategy and financial performance?
      • Large vs. small companies
      • Public vs. private entities
      • For-profit vs. not-for-profit corporations
    • Pricing climate risk from an investor perspective

Session 3: The Canadian Board’s Role in Climate Strategy Creation and Implementation

  • What is the board’s role when it comes to the creation and implementation of climate change strategy?  What questions should directors ask of management, and how can boardroom discussions advance decision making to ensure organizations are optimally positioned on their climate change journeys?

    • Understand the board’s role in the oversight of climate strategy and policy.  How does it intersect with the mandate of management?
    • How can directors effectively engage with management to ensure resilience and sustainability are core organizational values with direct links to corporate culture and purpose?
    • Ensure the board and its committees have the right balance of expertise to address climate change in a holistic manner
    • Develop a list of strategic questions the board should be asking of management and vice versa
    • Executive compensation: how both global and Canadian leaders in this area are incentivizing boards to successfully manage climate change
    • Ensure climate risks are built into the company ERM system using tools such as scenario planning
    • Success stories and lessons learned

Session 4: The Board’s Role in Enabling Innovation and Technology as Tools for Climate Change Competitiveness

  • What is the board’s role in fostering the development of innovation and enabling the use of technologies within an organization?  Learn from Canadian leaders about what is driving their path forward and how the board factors in. 

    • Understand the impact of a fulsome climate change policy on the long-term value of an organization
    • What opportunities are being created as a part of Canada’s COVID-19 resilient recovery and how might different organizations benefit?
    • How organizational leaders are embedding climate resilience through innovation and technology
      • How can directors engage in the process?
    • How investors, shareholders, customers and employees are, and should be, encouraging innovation and the development of technology, and how boards can help enable this
    • Success Stories and lessons learned

Moderator and Panellists (Session 1)

Judy Cotte Headshot

Judy Cotte

Moderator

Director, Gibson Energy, Connor Clark & Lunn Financial Group; CEO, ESG Global Advisors Inc.
 

Judy Cotte

Moderator

Director, Gibson Energy, Connor Clark & Lunn Financial Group; CEO, ESG Global Advisors Inc.
 
Judy is the CEO of ESG Global Advisors, a firm that bridges the gap between companies and investors on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. With over 20 years’ legal experience, the last twelve of which has been exclusively focused on ESG, Judy is a globally recognized expert on ESG and responsible investment.

Prior to forming ESG Global Advisors, Judy was V.P. & Head of Corporate Governance & Responsible Investment for RBC Global Asset Management (“RBC GAM”) and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Judy launched the Corporate Governance & Responsible Investment group at RBC GAM in 2012 and was responsible for developing the firm’s overall ESG strategy, working with the investment teams to integrate ESG into the investment process, overseeing all proxy voting globally and engaging with investee companies, both individually and collaboratively with other investors.

Previously, Judy was the Director of Policy Development & Chief Operating Officer for the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (“CCGG”), a coalition of most of Canada’s largest institutional investors. Judy has a Master's degree in securities law and practiced law in various capacities, including as enforcement counsel with the OSC, litigation counsel with a large broker/dealer and as a partner in a Bay Street law firm.

Judy is a Board Advisor to Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group and a Director of Gibson Energy, a leading, oil-focused infrastructure company. She is a current member of the TSX Listings Advisory Committee, the CCGG Public Policy Committee and the UN PRI’s Global Policy Reference Group. She was previously the Canada Correspondent for the International Corporate Governance Network. In 2020, Judy received a Clean50 award for her leadership in advancing sustainability and clean capitalism in Canada.
 
Judy Cotte Headshot
Michelle Edkins Headshot

Michelle Edkins

Panellist

Managing Director, BlackRock Investment Stewardship; Director, International Institute for Sustainable Development
 

Michelle Edkins

Panellist

Managing Director, BlackRock Investment Stewardship; Director, International Institute for Sustainable Development
 

Michelle Edkins is a Managing Director in BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship team of over 45 specialists covering the Americas; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Asia-Pacific. She is responsible globally for institutional relations, investment stewardship policy, and communications related to BlackRock’s investment stewardship activities. She serves on a number of industry initiatives to enhance governance and sustainable business practices including the US chapter of the 30% Club, a market initiative to increase the number of women on boards and in senior management, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Investor Advisory Group and the CECP’s Strategic Investor Initiative. 

Michelle Edkins Headshot
Radha Curpen Headshot

Radha Curpen

Panellist

Director, Bennett Jones Partnership Board, Business Council of British Columbia, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Windmill Microlending; Managing Partner, Bennett Jones, Vancouver Office
 

Radha Curpen

Panellist

Director, Bennett Jones Partnership Board, Business Council of British Columbia, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Windmill Microlending; Managing Partner, Bennett Jones, Vancouver Office
 
Radha is Managing Partner of Bennett Jones’ Vancouver office, is on the Bennett Jones Partnership Board and co-head of the firm's Environmental and Aboriginal Law practice. She specializes in environmental, aboriginal, environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) and regulatory matters, and the transportation of dangerous goods. Radha provides strategic counsel to clients with regards to regulatory compliance, the management of environmental risks, the defense of environmental litigation, the avoidance and defense of environmental-related prosecutions, crisis prevention and management, mitigating business disruption and corporate strategy on enterprise and social responsibility. She practices in both English and French and works across Canada and the United States.
 
Radha Curpen Headshot
Denise Carpenter, ICD.D Headshot

Denise Carpenter, ICD.D

Panellist

Certified Professional Executive Coach; Director, Ronald McDonald House Charities; Chair, EnerFORGE; Chair, Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation; Vice Chair and Chair of the Audit Committee, Synergy North; Chair, Canada’s Great Kitchen Party

Denise Carpenter, ICD.D

Panellist

Certified Professional Executive Coach; Director, Ronald McDonald House Charities; Chair, EnerFORGE; Chair, Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation; Vice Chair and Chair of the Audit Committee, Synergy North; Chair, Canada’s Great Kitchen Party
Denise Carpenter is an experienced c-suite executive, business strategist, board director and executive coach with broad experience in several business sectors.
 
She established her formal coaching practice to enable leaders to grow and lead with clarity of purpose. Her business experience and coaching style enables executives to analyze issues, generate and test different courses of action, identify obstacles, and move toward successful implementation. 

Denise’s most recent work focuses on utilities, energy security, climate change, cyber security, First Nations economic development, a national digital health platform and change management in a variety of business's including at an integrated community health organization (long term care).
 
Denise is currently a Board Director at Ronald McDonald House Charities, Chair of the Board EnerFORGE, Chair of the Board, Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation, Vice Chair and Chair of the Audit Committee of Synergy North and Chair of the Board, Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, a social enterprise. She has served as a guest lecturer and executive in residence at the University of Alberta’s MBA program and guest lecturer at the Fellows Program, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard. She has written and lectured widely on diversity of thought, governance as a business enabler and stakeholder relations, including public opposition to the siting of industrial infrastructure. 

In 2018, Denise was appointed to the Diversity 50 Cohort, recognizing Canada’s most diverse and eligible board candidates.

She is an active and accredited member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, The International Coach Federation and the International Women’s Forum. She has been honoured by Global TV as a Woman of Vision; by the YWCA with a Woman of Distinction Award; and has twice been named one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People by Alberta Venture magazine. Her passion is exploring the world, its people and its cultures. She lives in Toronto and continues to travel widely. 
Denise Carpenter, ICD.D Headshot

Moderator and Panellists (Session 2)

Sarah Keyes, CPA, CA Headshot

Sarah Keyes, CPA, CA

Moderator

Director, Leading Change Canada; Principal, ESG Global Advisors

Sarah Keyes, CPA, CA

Moderator

Director, Leading Change Canada; Principal, ESG Global Advisors
Sarah is a recognized voice on the financial impacts of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues for the Canadian business community. She is a speaker, author and facilitator on the impacts of climate change on corporate governance, strategy, risk management and performance.

Sarah is a Principal at ESG Global Advisors, an advisory firm focused on bridging the gap between companies and investors on ESG issues, including climate change. Previously, Sarah was a sustainability principal at the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada; a senior energy sector consultant at MNP; and a senior auditor in the mining sector at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Sarah has a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University and Chartered Accountant designation.
 
Sarah Keyes, CPA, CA Headshot
Aaron Bennett, CFA Headshot

Aaron Bennett, CFA

Panellist

Managing Director, Sustainable Investment Strategy and Research, Jarislowsky Fraser  
 

Aaron Bennett, CFA

Panellist

Managing Director, Sustainable Investment Strategy and Research, Jarislowsky Fraser  
 
Aaron is Managing Director, Sustainable Investment Strategy and Research at Jarislowsky Fraser. He supports the continuous improvement of systemic and robust integration of material ESG factors into the investment analysis across all portfolios and asset classes. He advises the Investment Strategy Committee in broader policy formulation and implementation, and is also a member of the firm’s Sustainable Investment Committee.
Aaron was a member of the Advisory Committee of the PRI-coordinated collaborative global engagement on methane ‎risk and the Responsible Investment Association’s Toronto Steering Committee. Aaron also sits on the Advisory Board of the Environmental and Social Committee of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance. 
Aaron holds a B.Sc Honours (Biology) from Queen’s University, an MBA from the Ivey School of Business Western University.
 
Aaron Bennett, CFA Headshot
Kathleen O’Neill, FCPA, FCA Headshot

Kathleen O’Neill, FCPA, FCA

Panellist

Director; Finning International Inc., ARC Resources Limited, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
 

Kathleen O’Neill, FCPA, FCA

Panellist

Director; Finning International Inc., ARC Resources Limited, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
 
Kathleen O’Neill is a chartered accountant (CPA) and an experienced corporate director. She is currently a director of Finning International Inc., ARC Resources Limited and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Kathleen is Chair of the Audit Committee of ARC and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. She is or has also been a member of the Audit, Human Resources and Compensation Committee; Risk Committee; Health, Safety and Environment Committee; Pension Committee; Chair Selection Committee, Operational Risk and Governance committees of several boards.
 
Kathleen was with BMO Bank of Montreal until January,2005 with her last role as Executive Vice President, Personal &Commercial Development & Head of Small Business Banking.  Prior to joining BMO Bank of Montreal, Ms. O’Neill was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
 
Ms. O’Neill is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto. She is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors education program for directors and is an Institute -certified director.
 
Kathleen has been involved in the non-profit sector as a board member of several organizations for over 30 years. She is Past Chair of both St Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation and St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto.
 
Kathleen is on the Ontario Advisory Council for the Institute of Corporate Directors and is a a member of the Accounting Advisory Committee for the ICD. She is a member of CPA Canada’s Corporate Oversight and Governance board.
 
In 2014, 2015 and 2016, Kathleen was selected as a Top 100 Canada’s Most Powerful Women by WXN and in 2017 she was inducted into the WXN Top 100 Canada’s Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame. In 2009 Kathleen received the International Alliance for Women World of Difference 100 award.
 
Kathleen O’Neill, FCPA, FCA Headshot

Moderator and Panellists (Session 3)

Indira Samarasekera, OC Headshot

Indira Samarasekera, OC

Moderator

Director, Scotiabank, Magna International Inc., TC Energy Corporation, Stelco Holdings Inc.; Senior Advisor, Bennett Jones LLP
 

Indira Samarasekera, OC

Moderator

Director, Scotiabank, Magna International Inc., TC Energy Corporation, Stelco Holdings Inc.; Senior Advisor, Bennett Jones LLP
 

Dr. Indira V. Samarasekera served as the 12th President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Alberta, from 2005-2015. She also served as Vice-President Research at the University of British Columbia from 2000-2005.

She is currently a Senior Advisor for Bennett Jones LLP and serves on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Nova Scotia, Magna International, TC Energy and Stelco. She serves on the selection panel for Canada’s outstanding CEO of the Year sponsored by Caldwell Partners and Bennett Jones. Dr. Samarasekera is a member of the Tri-Lateral Commission.

As a Hays Fulbright Scholar, she earned an MSc from the University of California in 1976. In 1980, she was granted a PhD in metallurgical engineering from the University of British Columbia. She has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Ceylon.

Dr. Samarasekera is internationally recognized as one of Canada’s leading metallurgical engineers for her groundbreaking work on process engineering of materials, especially steel processing. She held the Dofasco Chair in Advanced Steel Processing at the University of British Columbia. She has consulted widely for industry worldwide leading to the implementation of her research discoveries.

Dr. Samarasekera is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering in the USA. She has received honorary degrees from the Universities of Alberta, British Columbia, Toronto, Waterloo, Montreal, Western and Queen’s in Canada, and Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland. 

Indira Samarasekera, OC Headshot
Ani Hotoyan-Joly, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D Headshot

Ani Hotoyan-Joly, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D

Panellist

Director, Ontario Power Generation, Women's College Hospital, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, Armenian Relief Society of Canada
 

Ani Hotoyan-Joly, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D

Panellist

Director, Ontario Power Generation, Women's College Hospital, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, Armenian Relief Society of Canada
 
Ani Hotoyan-Joly is a member of the Board of Directors of Ontario Power Generation where she is the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Compensation, Leadership and Governance Committee.  She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Women’s College Hospital where she is the Chair of the Governance & Nominations Committee.  Ani is also a member of the Board of Directors of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and is the Chair of the Audit Committee.  In June 2020, she became a member of the Community Services Sector Audit Committee for the Province of Ontario.  Ani is very active in her community and is a member of the Board of Armenian Relief Society of Canada.  In April 2020, she became one of the Founding Visionaries of The Prosperity Project.
 
Ani Hotoyan-Joly, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D Headshot
Catherine McCall Headshot

Catherine McCall

Panellist

Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Good Governance; Director, Ontario Financing Authority
 

Catherine McCall

Panellist

Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Good Governance; Director, Ontario Financing Authority
 
Catherine McCall is the Executive Director of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance. The Coalition is comprised of representatives of Canada’s leading institutional investors which collectively manage assets of approximately CAD $4.5 trillion. Its mandate is to improve corporate governance at Canadian public companies. As Executive Director, Catherine is responsible, together with the Board of Directors, for setting the strategy of the organization, leading policy development and participating in CCGG’s board engagement program.

Catherine is a lawyer by training and is a member of the Ontario Securities Commission’s Continuous
Disclosure Advisory Committee, the Global Network of Investor Associations and is designated as the Canadian country correspondent for the International Corporate Governance Network. Catherine has the ICD.D designation.
 
Catherine McCall Headshot

Moderator and Panellists (Session 4)

Bruce Lourie, Ph.D. Headshot

Bruce Lourie, Ph.D.

Moderator

Director; Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, the Transition Accelerator, Canadians for Clean Prosperity, the SeedChange Foundation; President, Ivey Foundation

Bruce Lourie, Ph.D.

Moderator

Director; Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, the Transition Accelerator, Canadians for Clean Prosperity, the SeedChange Foundation; President, Ivey Foundation
Bruce is president of the Ivey Foundation, a university lecturer, and author. Bruce is a Board Director of several organizations including the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, the Transition Accelerator, Canadians for Clean Prosperity, and the SeedChange Foundation. He is a former Director of the Independent Electricity System Operator, the Ontario Power Authority, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and many others."
Bruce Lourie, Ph.D. Headshot
Dan Zilnik Headshot

Dan Zilnik

Panellist

Chair; CMC Research Institutes, Carbon Management Canada; Director, Trout Unlimited Canada; President, Afara

 

Dan Zilnik

Panellist

Chair; CMC Research Institutes, Carbon Management Canada; Director, Trout Unlimited Canada; President, Afara

 
Dan is an accomplished energy, petrochemicals, plastics, and environment expert with 18 years of management experience. Dan spent over a decade in the global energy business, leading sustainability for a major oil company. As President and founder of AFARA, Dan deals with the math, science, and economics of sustainability. He helps leaders make distinctive, lasting, and substantial improvements in sustainability performance. Clients include Canada’s largest oil companies, the world’s largest food and beverage companies, and global technology giants. Dan has a graduate degree from the London School of Economics and certificates from Harvard’s Law School.
Dan Zilnik Headshot
Annette Verschuren, OC Headshot

Annette Verschuren, OC

Panellist

Chair and CEO, NRStor Inc.; Chair, MaRS Discovery District and Chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada; Director, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group of Boston, Air Canada, Saputo, Canadian Natural Resources Limited, CAMH Foundation; Chancellor of Cape Breton University


 

Annette Verschuren, OC

Panellist

Chair and CEO, NRStor Inc.; Chair, MaRS Discovery District and Chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada; Director, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group of Boston, Air Canada, Saputo, Canadian Natural Resources Limited, CAMH Foundation; Chancellor of Cape Breton University


 
Annette Verschuren, O.C., is Chair and CEO of NRStor Inc., and the former President of The Home Depot Canada. Ms. Verschuren is Chair of the MaRS Discovery District and the Chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada. She is a Director of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group of Boston, Air Canada, Saputo and Canadian Natural Resources Limited.
 
Annette Verschuren serves as Chancellor of Cape Breton University and is a Board member of the CAMH Foundation. Ms. Verschuren is an Officer of the Order of Canada and is a Companion of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.
Annette Verschuren, OC Headshot
Lynn Loewen, FCPA, FCA Headshot

Lynn Loewen, FCPA, FCA

Panellist

Director; Emera Inc., Mount Allison University
 

Lynn Loewen, FCPA, FCA

Panellist

Director; Emera Inc., Mount Allison University
 
Lynn is a Director of Emera Inc, a geographically diverse energy and services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Lynn has been a member of the Audit Committee since May 2013 and the Health, Safety and Environment Committee since May 2017.
 
Lynn served as a Director of the Public Service Pension Investment Board from 2001 to 2007 where she was a member of the Audit Committee from 2003 to 2007 and Audit Committee Chair from 2006 to 2007.  Lynn was Chair of the Governance Committee from 2003 to 2006. 
 
Lynn holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Mount Allison University and is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant.  She served on the Mount Allison Board of Regents from 1998 to 2008 and as Chair from 2007 to 2008.  In January 2018, Lynn was appointed Chancellor of the University. 
Lynn Loewen, FCPA, FCA Headshot

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