- TD sets new $500 billion CAD Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target by 2030
- Publishes additional set of interim 2030 Scope 3 financed emissions targets for Automotive Manufacturing and Aviation sectors
- Announces TD Pathways to Economic Inclusion which focuses its efforts on helping to improve employment, financial and housing access.
TORONTO, March 16, 2023 /CNW/ - Today TD Bank Group (TD or the Bank) reaffirmed its focus on helping drive progress towards an inclusive and sustainable future by releasing additional interim 2030 Scope 3 financed emission targets and sharing its newly established social framework, TD Pathways to Economic Inclusion. These new initiatives are included in the Bank's 2022 ESG Report, which was published today alongside its 2022 Climate Action Plan Report and 2022 TD Ready Commitment Report. As part of its ongoing efforts to support sustainable growth for its customers and clients, the communities it serves, and the economies it supports, TD also announced a new $500 billion CAD Sustainable and Decarbonization Finance Target by 2030.
Through the Bank's Climate Action Plan, its Scope 3 interim financed emissions footprint reporting has been expanded to include seven carbon-intensive sectors and four Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) asset classes, including its business loans, on-balance sheet investments (i.e., listed equity and corporate bonds), mortgages and motor vehicle loans portfolios. Also detailed in the Plan are the Bank's continued efforts toward its net-zero goals with the inclusion of a second set of interim 2030 Scope 3 financed emissions targets for two additional sectors, Automotive Manufacturing and Aviation, and an update on its progress towards its previously announced Energy and Power Generation targets. TD has prioritized these sectors with the goal of maximizing the impact of its efforts to support decarbonization and additional details regarding these new targets can be found in the TD Climate Action Plan.
TD considers sustainable and decarbonization finance to be an important lever to support its ESG Strategy and Climate Action Plan, which has a goal of achieving net-zero GHG emissions from its operations and financing activities by 2050. TD intends to report annually, on a cumulative basis, on its progress toward the Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target.
"We have a critical role to play across the economy and society as a financial institution, business, corporate citizen and employer," said Janice Farrell Jones, SVP of Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship. "Our 2022 ESG Reporting Suite sets out how TD is helping to address the challenges associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy and how we are working to contribute to a more inclusive society for the communities in which we operate. The additional interim financed emissions targets and new Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target announced today are two more examples of how we are embedding ESG into our business and supporting our customers and clients."
At TD, financial and economic inclusion have long been core to its sustainability priorities. Building on this foundation, the Bank is taking another step forward through TD Pathways to Economic Inclusion, which focuses its efforts on three areas where it believes it has the knowledge and resources to make a meaningful impact: employment access, financial access, and housing access. TD Pathways to Economic Inclusion will focus the Bank's efforts to further embed social factors into its business, build on an area that has long been a priority for the Bank - diversity and inclusion - and strengthen its commitment to help open doors for all members of its communities. The 2022 ESG Report outlines its efforts over the past year and provides an overview of the areas of focus for 2023 and beyond. TD will share its progress on these efforts in its 2023 ESG Report, which will be published in the spring of 2024.
Key highlights of the 2022 ESG Reporting Suite also include:
- Delivering on its commitment to double the representation of Black executives within the Bank by the end of 2022 and remaining on track to increase Black, Indigenous Peoples and minority representation at VP+ levels by 2025.
- Engaging more than 339,000 people through TD-supported financial literacy initiatives over the past year in Canada and the U.S.
- Launching a new certification program for businesses owned by refugees with the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council and the Tent Partnership for Refugees.
- Contributing $147 million to support non-profit organizations in 2022 across the Bank's global footprint, towards its target of $1 billion in philanthropy by 2030.
- Raising more than $24 million through employee giving campaigns across North America in support of charitable organizations across Canada and the U.S.
- More than 4,300 colleagues globally in the TD Ready Commitment Network volunteering over 90,000 hours of their time to help better their communities.
The 2022 ESG Reporting Suite includes the ESG Report, the Climate Action Plan Report, the Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target Methodology and the TD Ready Commitment Report. To review all of the Reporting Suite documents, please visit: https://www.td.com/ca/en/about-td/for-investors/economic-social-governance-reporting
About TD Bank Group
The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the fifth largest bank in North America by assets and serves over 27 million customers in four key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, including TD Canada Trust and TD Auto Finance Canada; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in The Charles Schwab Corporation; Wealth Management and Insurance, including TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with more than 15 million active online and mobile customers. TD had $1.9 trillion in assets on January 31, 2023. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This document is not required to be prepared or filed by the Bank (as defined in this document) under Canadian or U.S. securities laws, and the information contained herein should not be read as necessarily rising to the level of materiality of disclosure required in our securities law filings.
From time to time, the Bank makes written and/or oral forward-looking statements, including in this document, in other filings with Canadian regulators or the United States (U.S.) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and in other communications. In addition, representatives of the Bank may make forward-looking statements orally to analysts, investors, the media, and others. All such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of, and are intended to be forward-looking statements under, applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements made in this document regarding the Bank's financial performance objectives, vision and strategic goals and the Bank's social, economic, environmental, and governance-related impacts and objectives, including the Bank's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets and the Bank's position on Thermal Coal. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "will", "would", "should", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "goal", "target", "may", and "could".
By their very nature, these forward-looking statements require the Bank to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, general and specific. Especially in light of the uncertainty related to the physical, financial, economic, political, and regulatory environments, such risks, and uncertainties – many of which are beyond the Bank's control and the effects of which can be difficult to predict – may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could cause, individually or in the aggregate, such differences include: strategic, credit, market (including equity, commodity, foreign exchange, interest rate, and credit spreads), operational (including technology, cyber security, and infrastructure), model, insurance, liquidity, capital adequacy, legal, regulatory compliance and conduct, reputational, environmental, and social, and other risks. Examples of such risk factors include the economic, financial, and other impacts of pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic; general business and economic conditions in the regions in which the Bank operates; geopolitical risk; the ability of the Bank to execute on long-term strategies and shorter-term key strategic priorities, including the successful completion of acquisitions and dispositions, business retention plans, and strategic plans; technology and cyber security risk (including cyber-attacks or data security breaches) on the Bank's information technology, internet, network access or other voice or data communications systems or services; model risk; fraud activity; the failure of third parties to comply with their obligations to the Bank or its affiliates, including relating to the care and control of information, and other risks arising from the Bank's use of third-party service providers; the impact of new and changes to, or application of, current laws and regulations, including without limitation tax laws, capital guidelines and liquidity regulatory guidance and the bank recapitalization "bail-in" regime; regulatory oversight and compliance risk; increased competition from incumbents and new entrants (including Fintechs and big technology competitors); shifts in consumer attitudes and disruptive technology; exposure related to significant litigation and regulatory matters; ability of the Bank to attract, develop, and retain key talent; changes to the Bank's credit ratings; changes in currency and interest rates (including the possibility of negative interest rates); increased funding costs and market volatility due to market illiquidity and competition for funding; Interbank Offered Rate (IBOR) transition risk; critical accounting estimates and changes to accounting standards, policies, and methods used by the Bank; existing and potential international debt crises; environmental and social risk (including climate change); and the occurrence of natural and unnatural catastrophic events and claims resulting from such events. In addition, information on the assumptions, risks, uncertainties, and other factors affecting the Bank's GHG emissions targets, the Bank's position on Thermal Coal, and the Bank's Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target may be found here: Cautionary Statement Regarding Disclosure on Emission Targets, Cautionary Statement Regarding Thermal Coal Position, and Cautionary Statement Regarding Disclosure on Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target.
The Bank cautions that the preceding list is not exhaustive of all possible risk factors and other factors could also adversely affect the Bank's results. For more detailed information, please refer to the "Risk Factors and Management" section of the 2022 Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), as may be updated in subsequently filed quarterly reports to shareholders and news releases (as applicable) related to any events or transactions discussed under the heading "Significant Acquisitions" or "Significant and Subsequent Events and Pending Acquisitions" in the relevant MD&A, which applicable releases may be found on www.td.com. All such factors, as well as other uncertainties and potential events, and the inherent uncertainty of forward-looking statements, should be considered carefully when making decisions with respect to the Bank. The Bank cautions readers not to place undue reliance on the Bank's forward- looking statements.
Material economic assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained in this document are set out in the 2022 MD&A under the headings "Economic Summary and Outlook", under the headings "Key Priorities for 2023" and "Operating Environment and Outlook" for the Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, U.S. Retail, Wealth Management and Insurance and Wholesale Banking segments, and under the heading "2022 Accomplishments and Focus for 2023" for the Corporate segment, each as may be updated in subsequently filed quarterly reports to shareholders.
Any forward-looking statements contained in this document represent the views of management only as of the date hereof and are presented for the purpose of assisting the Bank's shareholders and analysts in understanding the Bank's financial position, objectives and priorities and anticipated financial performance as at and for the periods ended on the dates presented and may not be appropriate for other purposes. This document should not be used as a basis for trading in securities of the Bank or for any other investment decision. This document is not intended to constitute financial, legal, tax, investment, professional or expert advice. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made in relation to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information contained in this document. The Bank does not undertake to update any forward- looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by or on its behalf, except as required under applicable securities legislation.
Any references to "sustainable investing," "sustainable finance," "ESG," "carbon neutral", "net-zero" or similar terms in this document are intended as references to the internally defined criteria of the Bank and not to any jurisdiction-specific regulatory definition that may exist.
SOURCE TD Bank Group
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