Item - 2020.GL11.1

The General Government and Licensing Committee recommends that:

1.  City Council direct the City Manager, the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and the City Solicitor to meet with senior Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) investment management staff in the first quarter of 2020 on the following:

a.  how OMERS manages a global portfolio of over $100 billion in public and private investments; and

b.  each asset class, investment guidelines and criteria, major investments, and a walk-through of a theoretical sustainable investment deal/vetting process.

and to report to the General Government and Licensing Committee in the second quarter of 2020 on how the City of Toronto can leverage OMERS resources to enhance the City's investment portfolio.

2.  City Council request the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) to meet its fiduciary responsibility to protect the long-term interests of municipal employees and their retirement savings in the face of an unprecedented climate crisis by taking the following steps:

a.  joining the growing list of major institutional investors committed to fully aligning their investment practices with the goals of the Paris Agreement and/or updates or additional agreements since 2005;

b.  committing to fully understanding the climate risks within its portfolio and to disclosing and regularly updating its beneficiaries on the progress to reduce these risks; and

c.  establishing a broad timeline and targets for cutting high-carbon assets from its portfolio and shifting investments into profitable zero carbon investments.

George Cooke, Chair, Board of Directors, OMERS Administration Corporation, Satish Rai, Chief Investment Officer, OMERS, and Michael Kelly, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, OMERS, gave a presentation on Sustainable Investing at the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).

George Cooke, Chair, Board of Directors, OMERS Administration Corporation, Satish Rai, Chief Investment Officer, OMERS, and Michael Kelly, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, OMERS, will give a presentation on Sustainable Investing at the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).