TD Insurance creates Advisory Board on Climate Change

TORONTO, April 9, 2019 /CNW/ - Every year, many parts of the world experience severe weather events, wildfires, and flooding. Last year in Canada alone, insured damage from severe weather reached $1.9 billion.

"We know all too well the toll weather and climate-related events are having on people's lives," says Kenn Lalonde, Executive Vice President, TD Insurance (TDI). "We have an incredible opportunity ? and responsibility ? to take meaningful action to address how we can better protect and insure Canadians and better support the Insurance industry when considering the increase of severe weather events happening more regularly across our country."

TDI is leading and participating in several local, national and international activities that focus on climate change and the impact of severe weather including, our role as a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI), and our participation in to the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) led pilot to implement recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in the insurance industry ? but we know that we can do more.

Today, TD Insurance is announcing the establishment of the Advisory Board on Climate Change, a first for the Canadian insurance industry. The Advisory Board will be comprised of experts from Engineers Canada, and five top Canadian universities with expertise in fields related to climate change, severe weather and its impact on people and our planet.

Members of TDI's Advisory Board on Climate Change include:

Dr. Wiktor (Vic) Adamowicz, Professor, Vice Dean, Agriculture Life and Environmental Sciences, Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, University of Alberta
Dr. Eric Kennedy, Assistant Professor, Disaster and Emergency Management Program, York University
David Lapp, P.Eng., Manager, Globalization and Sustainable Development, Engineers Canada
Dr. Damon Matthews, Professor and Concordia Research Chair in Climate Science and Sustainability, Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University
Dr. Heather McShane, Program Director and Catalyst-in-Chief, McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative, McGill University
Dr. Walter Mérida, Associate Dean, Research and Industrial Partnerships, Faculty of Applied Science, University of British Columbia
Dr. Peter Ricketts, President, Acadia University

Joined by TDI executives and insurance industry experts, the Advisory Board assembled on March 28 for its inaugural meeting in Toronto to kick-off the initiative and to discuss key climate change issues and opportunities for change that are of interest to TDI and the greater insurance industry.

"Our employees, customers, and partners have increasing expectations that the corporations they deal with are at the very least active, if not leaders, on issues that are of importance to them," says Lalonde. "TD's environmental leadership is a source of pride and we are building on this great legacy to inspire confidence in our future for our customers, our colleagues, and our communities."

TD Bank Group has long been involved in activities focused on protecting the environment. Our Friends of the Environment Foundation (FEF) was established in 1990 to support a wide range of environmental initiatives primarily focusing on revitalizing public green spaces, including planting 300,000 trees across Canada with the goal of planting one million more by 2030.

In 2018 we launched our new corporate citizenship platform, The Ready Commitment, which supports community giving in four focus areas, Vibrant Planet among them. As part of this launch, we announced our pledge to support the transition to a low carbon economy with a CDN $100 billion target in low-carbon lending, financing, asset management and other programs by 2030.

TD's action to support the environment and a low-carbon economy

• 2010: TD was the first North American bank to become carbon neutral
• 2013-2018: TD recognized as top performing Canadian bank for climate disclosure by CDP
• 2014: First Canadian bank to issue a green bond
• 2014: TD Insurance became the second Canadian-based signatory to the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI)
• 2017: Issued US$1 billion green bond, TD's first in the United States
• 2017: TD became one of 16 banks around the world to commit to pilot the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board's Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) under the leadership of the United Nations Environment Programme ? Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI)
• 2018: TD is the only financial institution participating in all three TCFD pilot projects to implement the recommendations of the TCFD in the lending, asset management and insurance industries
• 2018: Since 2014, TD has been listed on the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index

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 sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves more than 25 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank^®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with more than 12 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.3 trillion in assets on January 31, 2019. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges

SOURCE TD Insurance