WEBVTT

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Yana, welcome.

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Why is advancing sustainable
finance so important?

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Thanks so much for having me,
Georgie, and what a great

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question to kick off with.

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So CDPQ, as you may well know,
we have a dual mandate and it is

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both to deliver the best returns
possible, but also to do so

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while improving the lives and
economic development of the

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people of Quebec.

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So that makes us uniquely aware
both of the community on whose

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behalf we're investing and the
communities we're investing in.

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So hence our philosophy when it
comes to investment is invest

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constructive capital for the
long term in order to deliver

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performance and progress.

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So when we look at sustainable
finance, we really see both

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sides of the equation.

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We see the economic return that
it delivers to our depositors

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and we see the positive
contribution that it can make to

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communities.

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So for us it's as
simple as that.

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What do organizations
need to do?

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What advice do you have for
advancing sustainable finance?

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Well, I'll tell you, you know
our own sort of voyage through

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sustainable finance and where I
think it has some lessons for others.

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But you know, we now at CDPQ
when we took stock of the fact

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that the transformation of the
economy is going to be a $200

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trillion opportunity between now
and 2050, that realization

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really is the first step
for any organization.

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You need to realize that the
decarbonization of the economy

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is not just a strategic threat
to be mitigated, it's in fact a

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once in a lifetime opportunity
to be seized.

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So organizations really need to
start there.

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Then interestingly, you know, we
moved to sort of setting targets

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for ourselves and we did that
because we wanted to be very

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purposeful about engaging in
this climate strategy so that we

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could proactively position
ourselves to benefit from this

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fundamental transformation.

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So you know our climate strategy
involves both a $10 billion

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envelope for investing in the
hardest-to-abate sectors and

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also the intention of holding
$54 billion in green assets by 2025.

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Like here in
the US, for example, we have a

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controlling interest in a
terrific company called

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Invenergy.

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And Invenergy is in the
Americas, the largest

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independent renewable energy
developer and operator.

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We also have an investment in
AES Indiana that I think is

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quite, quite cool in the context
of energy transition.

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AES Indiana provides electricity
to about 500,000 plus clients

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around Indianapolis and our
investment enabled this utility

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to go from over 80% power
generation by coal to 35% and is

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on track for 0% by 2026.

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So these are the ways, you know,
recognizing the opportunity,

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setting the targets, starting to
align your capital.

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These are a lot of the
initial steps.

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Taking a broader look, what's
the investment outlook in North

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America right now, do you think?

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Well, you know from our
perspective, the United States

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is an absolutely vital market.

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It's due to the size, the
proximity to Canada, but also

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just the depth and
sophistication of the US market.

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You know, never underestimate
the US economy.

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In fact, over the last 10 years
CDPQ, we've doubled, or almost

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doubled our exposure of our
portfolio into the US and in the

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last five, six years alone,
we've invested an additional

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$100 billion in the
United States.

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So what we see in the US is a
tremendous amount of opportunity.

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You know there are, there's a
resilience really that we're

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seeing in terms of the consumer,
you know, in terms of even the

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inflation and how we're managing
it, managing through it with

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growth and productivity.

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You know, I will say I was
struck,

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I saw this data point the other
day which is at the beginning of

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this year, the combined impact
of the CHIPS Act, the IRA, the

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Infrastructure Investment Act,
had all culminated in a combined

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investment, public and private,
of over a trillion dollars.

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So these are the ways in which
the United States realigns

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policies and manages to move
forward despite, you know the

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uncertainty in the economy.

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Finally, what are some of the
key trends that you're seeing,

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what are what are exciting you
the most, I guess.

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Well, I will say, you know,
since we've been talking about

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energy transition, sustainable
finance, that's an enormous

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piece of it.

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But I'll maybe add to that and
to point out the ways in which

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investors, capital allocators
and owners, and managers like us

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are collaborating increasingly
in the deployment of capital

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with philanthropy, government,
other actors.

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And we at CDPQ we actually have
a strategic partnership if you

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will with Natixis out of France,
with Ninety One in the UK, and

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the US Treasury in finding ways
to coinvest more smartly

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together cross-sector. And these
sorts of alliances,

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you know, whether it's that or
the Investor Leadership Network,

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which we cofounded a few years
ago, or the Sustainable Markets

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Initiative.

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We're seeing, increasingly,
investors and business leaders

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and governments coming together
to cocreate solutions, and I

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find that very exciting.

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Thank you so much.

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Thank you.