TORONTO, Feb. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - Scotiabank is proud to announce that it has won Best Corporate Sustainability Strategy at the ESG Investing Awards 2022, the world's leading awards celebrating excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) research, ratings, funds and products. The ESG Investing Awards are the only awards devoted to assessing and evaluating the best companies involved in all areas of ESG investing across the globe. 

Scotiabank's approach to ESG focuses on four pillars – Environmental Action, Economic Resilience, Inclusive Society and Leadership & Governance – to maximize the Bank's impact in addressing important sustainability challenges.

"We are so proud to win Best Corporate Sustainability Strategy at this year's ESG Investing Awards and to be recognized for our leadership in investing in our communities, addressing climate risk and promoting racial and gender equality," says Meigan Terry, Senior Vice President and Chief Social Impact, Sustainability and Communications Officer at Scotiabank. "As a leading bank in Canada and across the Americas, Scotiabank recognizes the important role we play in building a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable world."

Scotiabank's corporate sustainability strategy includes the Bank's Climate Commitments and additional key initiatives such as:

• Launched ScotiaRISE, a 10-year, $500 million initiative to promote economic resilience among disadvantaged groups by 2030.
• Mobilized $58 billion in capital toward our goal of mobilising $100 billion in climate-related finance by 2025.
• Joined the United-Nations-convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a global initiative to accelerate efforts of the financial sector in addressing climate change.
• Established Scotiabank's Net-Zero Research Fund  with $10 million (CAD) allocated to help advance research in support of the transition to a low-carbon economy. In 2021 Scotiabank provided $1 million in grants to ten universities and research organizations to support public policy and science and technology research for the reduction of carbon emissions.
• Launched the Net-Zero Pathways Project with the goal of establishing bank-wide, quantitative, time-bound targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with our lending activities, consistent with the ambition to be a net-zero bank by 2050.
• Remained on track to meet our target to secure 100% of electricity for our operations from non-emitting sources by 2030 on a global basis; with an interim target of 100% for Canadian operations by 2025
• Joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) to support and enable the development of measurement methodologies to track and report financed emissions.

The ESG Investing Awards, now in their third year, are judged by an independent panel of experts from industry and academia. The Awards celebrate the most impactful products, funds and initiatives that are making a positive contribution towards the integrity, uptake, and success of ESG investing.

To read more about Scotiabank's sustainability strategy and climate commitments visit www.scotiabank.com/sustainability.

About Scotiabank

Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future," we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of approximately 90,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.2 trillion (as at October 31, 2021), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank