Sustainability at OPB
Delivering on our promise
We exist to keep the pension promise, and we do that by keeping our commitments to our members, our staff and the communities in which we work and invest in.
Keeping our commitments
At OPB, we view sustainability as a set of practices to better understand and address risks and opportunities that can affect our operations and investments.
Both OPB and our investment manager, the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), work to incorporate sustainability by integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, including climate change, into our investment approach.
We believe that by considering ESG factors in our investment approach, we can better manage potential investment risks and identify opportunities to create long-term value.
Governance
Our approach to sustainability begins at the top
Assessing opportunities to incorporate sustainability into the Public Service Pension Plan (“the Plan”) operations and investment management is a priority for the Board of Directors and management, given its potential impact on Plan performance over the long term.
Read more about our governance approach.
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Oversight
The Board receives quarterly updates from management on sustainability efforts, as well as an annual update from IMCO on their sustainable investing strategy.
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Education Sessions
The Board and senior management attend regular expert led education sessions and have access to educational resources on sustainability topics to support them in their oversight role.
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Ethical Conduct
All employees, directors, and officers are required to adhere to and annually acknowledge our Code of Conduct as part of OPB’s Compliance program.
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Policies
The Board provides oversight over the SIP&P and the Policy for ESG Investment Issues. The SIP&P (PDF) lays out our overarching beliefs with respect to ESG and the Policy for ESG Investment Issues (PDF) articulates our approach to ESG issues as it relates to investment strategy, investment decisions and practicing active ownership.
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Accessibility
Accessibility is an important focus for OPB and our 2025-2027 Multi-Year Accessibility Plan (MYAP) (PDF) plays a critical role. The document is a roadmap that outlines our dedication to identifying and removing bias and barriers, ensuring equal access to our services, facilities, and opportunities for everyone.
Sustainable Investing
Our Commitments
Sustainable investing is central to fulfilling the OPB pension promise. OPB and IMCO believe that addressing issues like climate change when investing is part of making smart decisions that protect pensions over the long term.
PRI Commitment
OPB and IMCO are signatories to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), a global investor network and standards-setting body for responsible investment. This means both our organizations have made a public commitment to invest responsibly, and we both report annually on our responsible investment approach through the PRI’s Reporting Framework.
Learn more about PRI’s six principles of responsible investment.
IMCO’s Sustainable Investing Strategy
IMCO views sustainable investing as an integral component of their approach to meeting their clients’ objectives.
The strategy is grounded in three mutually reinforcing pillars that are linked to the investment lifecycle: sustainability insights, sustainable capital deployment and sustainability-linked value creation.
To learn more about IMCO’s Sustainable Investing strategy, please read ‘Sustainable Investing’ on IMCO’s website.
Climate Considerations
Effectively managing climate-related risks and opportunities is a central element of IMCO’s Sustainable Investing Strategy. Overall, this supports the long-term resilience of OPB’s investment portfolios and is integral to our long-term sustainability and value for our members.
IMCO has set a target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in their investment portfolio by 2050, with an interim goal of reducing financed emissions intensity by 50% by 2030, relative to a 2019 baseline.
IMCO approaches their commitment holistically by considering the following:
Climate risks and opportunities
As part of their investment approach, IMCO considers strategies to mitigate climate-related risks and capitalize on financial opportunities associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy. This includes evaluating physical and transition risks, as well as identifying opportunities arising from new technologies, regulatory developments, and changing market dynamics.
Climate solutions
As of 2025, IMCO has deployed $7 billion towards their target to deploy $10 billion to climate solutions between 2020 and 2030. Climate solutions are defined as investments in companies or assets that contribute positively to climate change mitigation or provide adaptation services that limit the impacts of climate change.
Emissions education
IMCO annually reports its portfolio financed emissions intensity to OPB and monitors progress toward its 2030 target relative to a 2019 baseline. At the end of 2024, IMCO had reduced their emissions intensity by 51% versus 2019, in line with its interim 2030 target.
Read more about IMCO's Sustainable Investing.
Social Responsibility
We believe that a strong commitment to social responsibility is important. Whether it’s administering the PSPP or investing in the Plan’s assets, social factors – including those related to health and safety, labour and community relations, diversity, equity and inclusion – are key considerations.
Sustainable Screening Guideline
IMCO’s Sustainability Screening Guideline is used to determine which categories of investments are ineligible to be included in its portfolio. Screening is an important part of IMCO’s approach to sustainability and is utilized to reduce risks associated with certain investments.
The Guideline is applicable to all investments and asset classes where IMCO can meaningfully influence and/or control the investable assets.
Learn more about IMCO’s Sustainability Screening Guideline (PDF).
Engagement and Influence
We expect IMCO to influence investee companies through engagement and proxy voting, to improve corporate practices and to manage investments with potential ESG-related risks.
IMCO’s approach utilizes several engagement tools:
Proxy Voting
We view proxy voting as an important tool to encourage public companies to provide adequate disclosure to shareholders relating to ESG factors, policies and initiatives. IMCO, on OPB’s behalf, exercises voting rights for securities owned by OPB, in accordance with their Proxy Voting Guideline (PDF). It is intended to provide guidance as to how proxy votes will be cast on various types of management and shareholder proposals, such as board of directors, executive and director compensation, climate change, and human rights and labour issues.
Dialogue
We believe that when investors engage with companies on sustainability issues, they can enhance shareholder value. IMCO engages in direct dialogue with portfolio companies where they have influence to improve sustainability practices.
Divestment
While we believe in driving change through active dialogue, we recognize that engagement must lead to progress. When extensive engagement proves unsuccessful and a clear risk to shareholder value remains, IMCO's investment teams will carefully consider divestment as a prudent path forward.
Corporate Sustainability
Our leadership team is committed to creating an environment in which our employees thrive, and our members receive excellent service.
People are at the heart of OPB
Regularly assessing our approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) makes our workplace stronger, more agile, and helps us to drive employee engagement and deliver better service to our diverse membership.
Our DEI Advisory Council has remained active and engaged since its inception in 2022, providing advisory support to OPB’s executive leadership to maintain an organizational lens on DEI.
To learn more about our 2025 actions, please refer to On the Horizon and our Careers webpage.
Managing our environmental impact
We also aim to consider the environmental impact of our administrative operations, where possible. For example, our head office is located in a LEED Platinum certified building.
FAQs
The PRI is an independent, not-for-profit international organization working to achieve a sustainable global financial system by encouraging the adoption of six Principles for Responsible Investment and collaboration on their implementation; fostering good governance, integrity and accountability; and addressing obstacles to a sustainable financial system that lie within market practices, structures and regulation.
Climate solutions are companies or projects that derive most of their business from products and/or services that reduce emissions or otherwise mitigate climate change effects. IMCO has a target of deploying $10 billion to climate solutions by 2030. For an update as of 2025, visit On the Horizon.
At net-zero, all GHG emissions are either avoided or offset by actions that remove greenhouse gases (GHG) from the atmosphere. Through the Paris Agreement, the global community has agreed that avoiding the worst impacts of climate change means limiting the increase in average temperature by the end of the century to 1.5°C. Achieving this goal requires significant and rapid reductions in GHG emissions. Canada has joined over 120 countries in committing to net-zero by 2050.
GHG emissions intensity is a way to measure GHG emissions per unit of activity or process, such as per employee, per dollar invested, per dollar of revenue or per unit of production, which allows comparisons of climate impact and resource efficiency. In the context of an investment portfolio, GHG emissions intensity typically refers to emissions per unit of investment, such as tonnes per $ million invested.
They are the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the investments in the portfolio. In simple terms, they represent the emissions generated by the companies and assets we invest in, weighted by the size of our investment. In technical terms, they represent the combined emissions of investments included in a portfolio.
It is a process by which shareholders vote on company matters by authorizing someone else (a proxy) to vote on their behalf. At public equity shareholders meetings, most proposals put forward relate to governance issues. Some shareholder proposals put forward by investors are on environmental or social topics. Expressing your views by voting for or against is a way for shareholders to influence companies.
As IMCO manages OPB's investments as our exclusive investment manager, OPB does not have its own net-zero target but our investments are in scope for IMCO’s targets. We recognize that climate change presents a major threat to long-term growth and prosperity, and that there is an urgent need to accelerate the transition towards an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.