We have expanded the list of climate policies we assess company engagement with to incorporate land-use related policy, referring to legislative or regulatory measures to enhance and protect ecosystems and land where carbon is being stored. Assessments under this category are currently underweighted in terms of their contribution to the overall company metrics. This weighting will be progressively increased over the next 6 months.
We adjusted the terminology used to describe the queries running down the left-hand side of our scoring matrix and added additional explanatory text to the info-boxes. This has no impact on the scores and methodology. It has been done following user feedback to improve clarity.
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
Governance: The Bank of Nova Scotia’s (Scotiabank) board approves of the bank’s climate strategy while board committees have regular oversight of the bank’s sustainable business strategy, climate-related risks, and climate-related disclosures. Furthermore, management-level positions and committees are assigned clear climate-related responsibilities and there are clear processes to ensure they monitor the progress of climate-related issues and initiatives.
Strategy: Scotiabank considers climate-related risks and opportunities on its lending, advisory, and investment business activities, and it considers both transition and physical risks. It has identified some physical risks over short, medium, and long-term time horizons in its CDP response, however, it has not identified transition risks over different time horizons.
It has provided various examples of how it has considered to the impact of climate-related risks and opportunities on its corporate strategy planning in its annual report and ESG report, such as reducing the bank's impact on the climate and enhancing the integration of climate risk assessments in lending, financing, and investing activities.
Scotiabank is developing a methodology for stress testing business and retail banking portfolios and has applied an internally-developed methodology to assess climate risk in its non-retail portfolio, but it is unclear what climate scenarios were used. It has also participated in a pilot scenario analysis using the Bank of England's climate scenario, but there is a lack of details on the analysis in its reporting, and it does not appear to have conducted robust climate-scenario testing on its business strategy.
Risk Management: The organization references some processes for identifying and assessing climate-related risks, for example, it uses a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) tool to evaluate physical and transition risks clients may face. It also has various processes in place to manage and mitigate climate-related risks, including an environmental policy and credit risk policy that sets out formal escalation processes for high-risk transactions, sectors, or geographies. However, it is unclear how it prioritizes (including determining materiality), transfers, accepts, or controls climate-related risks within these processes.
Scotiabank appears to integrate climate-related risks into its overall risk management approach. For example, Scotiabank considers climate risk as a top and emerging risk and has included climate risk in its enterprise-wide risk management framework.
Metrics and Targets:Scotiabank outlines some metrics used to measure and manage climate-related risks and opportunities including metrics on sustainable finance and operations, however, methodologies to calculate metrics are not provided in its reporting.
The organization is transparent about Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions data but does not appear to disclose other Scope 3 emissions besides business travel. Scotiabank discloses the percentage of net loans and acceptances in climate-relevant sectors. It has begun measuring and disclosing financed emissions in line with PCAF for four sectors including oil and gas, power and utilities, residential mortgages, and agriculture.
Scotiabank appears to have set some climate-related targets, including sustainable finance targets, climate reporting requirements, Scope 1 and 2 emission reductions, and around integrating climate risk assessments into its lending, financing and investing activities. In October 2021, Scotiabank joined the Net Zero Banking Alliance and in March 2022, it outlined its initial 2030 interim targets for the oil and gas and power and utilities sectors.
Technology Positions: The bank states that it does not currently and will not finance standalone thermal coal mining or coal power generation projects but continues to support existing mining and utility clients who have thermal coal or coal generation assets in their portfolios in their transition to lower carbon emissions and it does not appear to have set limits or timelines around this continued support.
Scotiabank has set exclusionary policies for the oil and gas sectors that limit financing of certain activities such as oil and gas exploration, development, or production within the Arctic Circle. However, the organization appears to otherwise participate in unabated oil and gas financing.
With regard to the role of renewable energy, the organization has communicated support for a net-zero economy and is supporting this through pledging to achieve net zero financed emissions by 2050. It is also mobilizing $100 billion by 2025 to reduce the impacts of climate change through its Climate Commitments.