Responsible investing in Canadian Universities

ABSTRACT

In this research, we explore responsible investing in Canadian Universities. Interviews were conducted with 31 universities that were identified as having endowments or pension portfolios greater than $50M. We also reviewed publicly available data for these institutions. Universities reported facing numerous barriers but perhaps most noteworthy was a lack of knowledge about RI and a concern about performance risk. Other findings included concerns about structural barriers, governance, development of highly qualified professionals, data gaps, and variability. We conclude with recommendations connected to global frameworks and share a Responsible Investing (RI) Categorization that may be a useful roadmap for advancing RI engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate
• environment
• ESG
• governance
• responsible investing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 430-2021-00695].