The Institute for Sustainable Finance is a multi-disciplinary network of research and professional development that brings together academia, the private sector, and government to shape Canada’s innovations in sustainable finance.
The Institute is at the intersection of sustainability and finance. Our Mission is to align mainstream financial markets with Canada’s transition to a prosperous sustainable economy.
Read more
“As long as temperatures and sea levels continue to rise and with them climate-related financial risks, central banks, supervisors, and financial institutions will continue to raise the bar to address these climate-related risks and to ‘green’ the financial system. We need collective leadership and action across countries and we need to be ambitious.”
Mark Carney
Governor, Bank of England
The Canadian Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance defines it as: capital flows, risk management activities, and financial processes that assimilate environmental and social factors as a means of promoting sustainable economic growth and the long-term sustainability of the financial system.
In its simplest form, this means aligning our financial systems and services to promote long-term environmental sustainability and economic prosperity. Learn more about Sustainable Finance through our Primer Series.
March 3, 2020
The Institute for Sustainable Finance (ISF) welcomes the pre-budget report of the Standing Committee on Finance, which calls on the federal government to adopt the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance.
Read moreMarch 2, 2020
Prime Minister Trudeau delivered a speech urging climate action at the mining conference in Toronto, three days after the House of Commons Finance Committee called for action on sustainable finance as a key pre-budget recommendation. The committee called on the government to act on recommendations from last year’s Final Report of the Canadian Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance. Ryan Riordan, Director of Research at the Institute for Sustainable Finance at Smith School of Business, Queen's University "stated that he found Mr. Trudeau’s comments “heartening” and that the government should act on sustainable finance, including requiring companies to disclose how they are addressing climate change. Prof. Riordan acknowledged that while there is political debate about how to proceed, corporate leaders are generally supportive of clear environmental rules."
Read more