Today OPTrust released its 2020 Responsible Investing Report, detailing its 
continued long-term commitment to sustainable investing throughout the 
volatility of the past year.  

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1507275/OPTrustLogo.jpg 

OPTrust's responsible investing accomplishments in 2020 include updating its 
Statement of Responsible Investing Principles and expanding the emphasis on 
diversity and inclusion in its Proxy Voting Guidelines, developing a 
cross-portfolio approach to integrate responsible investing in all its 
externally managed investments, and building an investing program to allocate 
capital to opportunities at the intersection of sustainability and innovation. 

"Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues create financial and 
reputational risks, but we also believe that solving these challenges presents 
significant investment opportunities," said Alison Loat, Managing Director of 
Sustainable Investing and Innovation at OPTrust. "We are committed to 
continually improving the integration of responsible investing principles 
across the organization, and to finding opportunities that arise when tackling 
pressing global challenges like climate change." 

In 2020, OPTrust also initiated a renewal of its Climate Change Action Plan and 
completed carbon risk assessments, including measuring the carbon footprint of 
its public equity, fixed income, private equity and infrastructure portfolios. 
Further, the Sustainable Investing and Innovation team also built relationships 
with sustainability-themed funds, with a focus in the climate space, and made 
its first investment in early 2021 in a sustainable real assets fund. 

Despite the challenges posed by global lockdowns, the organization also 
continued its work as an active investor. In 2020, OPTrust voted at 2,028 
company meetings in 52 countries and engaged 543 companies on key ESG issues. 
The organization's responsible investing efforts earned it an A+ for its 
strategy and governance approach to responsible investing from the Principles 
for Responsible Investment (PRI). 

"Responsible investing is integral to our mission of paying pensions today and 
preserving pensions for tomorrow," said Peter Lindley, President and Chief 
Executive Officer at OPTrust. "While we've been on a responsible investing 
journey for many years, the events of 2020 have given a renewed sense of 
urgency to the importance of keeping long-term Plan sustainability at the 
forefront of our investment decision-making and sustainable investing is a key 
part of that effort."

Read OPTrust's full Responsible Investing Report here ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3158567-1&h=990875810&u=https%3A%2F%2Foptrust.com%2Finvestments%2Fresponsibleinvesting%2F2020Report%2Findex.html&a=here 
). 

ABOUT OPTRUST

With net assets of over $23 billion, OPTrust invests and manages one of 
Canada's largest pension funds and administers the OPSEU Pension Plan 
(including OPTrust Select), a defined benefit plan with over 98,000 members. 
OPTrust is a global investor in a broad range of asset classes including 
Canadian and foreign equities, fixed income, real estate, infrastructure and 
private markets, and has a team of highly experienced investment professionals 
located in Toronto, London and Sydney.

MEDIA CONTACT, Claire Prashaw, OPTrust, Director, Public Affairs, 
+1-416-681-3617, cprashaw@optrust.com 

SOURCE OPTrust