BCI's 2024-2025 Stewardship Report
Victoria, B.C. – September 17, 2025 – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) today released its 2024-2025 Stewardship Report, demonstrating continued leadership in driving ESG performance and portfolio outcomes through engagement, proxy voting, and policy dialogue.
“The past year was marked by significant geopolitical upheaval and economic uncertainty, with some suggesting that ESG is inconsistent with delivering financial returns,” says Jennifer Coulson, BCI’s Senior Managing Director and Global Head of ESG. “Our experience managing $295 billion in global assets tells a different story: effective stewardship drives sustainable value for our clients, and is fundamental to our approach.”
Last year, BCI engaged 176 portfolio companies to address material risks and opportunities, and achieved its objectives or built positive momentum with 34 per cent of those companies. During the most recent proxy season, BCI voted at 2,225 public company meetings in 52 countries.
Notable engagement successes include completing a multi-year collaborative engagement with Teck Resources on climate risk, protecting minority shareholder interests during the acquisition of Atacadao SA, and contributing to the broader governance reform movement in South Korea that led to the country’s landmark Commercial Act amendments. Additionally, BCI’s position on stronger sustainability disclosures to support investor decisions continues to yield results. More than 35 jurisdictions covering 40 per cent of global market capitalization have now incorporated the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards.1
This year’s report also introduces BCI’s updated ESG engagement priorities – physical and transition climate change risk, responsible AI, and human capital management – which reflect the areas expected to have the greatest impact on investment performance in the coming years.
“As an active, long-term investor, BCI has a responsibility to help position our portfolio for the risks and opportunities ahead,” adds Coulson. “Every engagement, every vote, and every policy submission is ultimately about protecting and growing the assets entrusted to us by our clients.”
2024-2025 stewardship highlights
- Emphasizing governance: BCI voted against or withheld our vote from 32 per cent or nearly 4,000 board directors across our global equities portfolio for reasons including insufficient independence, lack of board diversity, and problematic compensation practices. We pursued 56 engagements on corporate governance, reinforcing our foundational expectations and supporting board and management accountability.
- Managing climate risk: BCI continued to vote against board directors for lack of climate risk oversight and disclosure, and pursued 139 climate engagements in the energy, utilities, and financial sectors. Notably, we completed a seven-year engagement with Teck Resources that culminated in the company’s removal from the Climate Action 100+ target list based on its progress.
- Expanding influence in Asia: BCI deepened engagement in prominent Asian markets, including Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. We cast votes at nearly 750 annual meetings in the Asia-Pacific region and engaged with companies and policymakers alongside investor coalitions like the Asian Corporate Governance Association to raise market standards.
- Creating value in private markets: BCI engaged 16 private portfolio companies to strengthen alignment with our ESG expectations and support sustainability initiatives designed to deliver value at exit. We hosted an inaugural Private Equity ESG Value Creation Conference in New York, bringing together nearly 50 investment partners and companies to demonstrate the links between ESG and financial performance.
As a core aspect of BCI’s ESG strategy, this stewardship reporting complements the ESG and climate-related disclosures available in our 2024-2025 Corporate Annual Report.
Read the 2024-2025 Stewardship Report on BCI.ca.
I'm going to briefly go over some aspects of BCI's 2024-2025 Stewardship Report which is available here (click on PDF icon at the top to download entire report).
First, read below the message from Jennifer Coulson, BCI's Global Head of ESG:
I'll reprint it below:
The past year was marked by significant geopolitical upheaval and economic uncertainty, with some suggesting that ESG is inconsistent with delivering financial returns. Our experience managing $295 billion in global assets tells a different story: effective stewardship drives sustainable value for our clients, and remains fundamental to our
approach as a long-term investor.
This conviction leads to real-world outcomes. We directly engaged 176 public and private portfolio companies on material ESG issues, reached thousands more through collaborative initiatives, and expanded our policy advocacy in key markets like Asia. From encouraging governance reforms that address South Korea’s valuation discount to completing a seven-year engagement with Teck Resources to mitigate climate risk, our persistence paid off and reinforced that meaningful change is not always a linear path.
Our work benefits from many voices, and we regularly look for opportunities to expand our influence and share best practices. One such example is the inaugural Private Equity ESG Value Creation Conference hosted by BCI in New York. We brought together nearly 50 investment partners and portfolio companies to demonstrate and explore the financial links between sustainability performance and investment outcomes.
We firmly believe that in this era of heightened international tensions and rapid technological transformation, companies with robust governance, forward-thinking climate strategies, and effective human capital management will prove more resilient and competitive over the long term.
As an active owner, BCI has a responsibility to help position our portfolio for the risks and opportunities ahead. Every engagement, every vote, and every policy submission is ultimately about protecting and growing the assets entrusted to us by our clients.
Very well written message, in short, stewardship is what I like to call "ESG in action" meaning you engage with public and private companies on material ESG issues to bolster and enhance their value over the long run.
The Teck Resources example Jennifer gives above is interesting because Teck was recently bought by Anglo American in what Jonathan Price calls a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Canada.
Did BCI's engagement add value? Well, it certainly didn't hurt and made the company more resilient and better prepared to mitigate climate risk.
Equally interesting is BCI's exposure to emerging markets and how they're engaging companies in key markets like Asia, no easy feat.
And in private markets, ESG Value Creation Conference hosted by BCI in New York is a great initiative because there too, you need engagement.
It's worth noting BCI's approach to stewardship cuts across asset classes:
Our dedicated ESG team, embedded across all asset classes, takes a coordinated and strategic approach to stewardship – setting expectations for public companies through our Proxy Voting Guidelines, providing input on regulation around the world through policy advocacy, and engaging directly and collaboratively with public and private companies and other capital markets participants. To direct our efforts, we focus on what we identify to be the most material ESG-related risks and opportunities to our portfolio over the long term.
As a key component of our ESG Strategy, which ensures corporate-wide consistency in our approach, stewardship at BCI is a shared responsibility guided by our ESG Governance Policy. This policy outlines the roles and responsibilities of our Board of Directors, management, and employees in upholding our ESG principles and investment beliefs.
And since "ESG is action" is all about influencing positive outcomes, I like this page in their Stewardship Report measuring the success of their engagement:
Alright, let me end it there but take the time to read BCI's 2024-2025 Stewardship Report here, it's excellent.
You can also read the latest news from BCI here.
Below, a PRI panel discussion on leveraging ESG to create value in private markets featuring Jennifer Coulson, Global Head of ESG, BCI (fast forward to minute 29; February, 2025). Great discussion, take the time to listen to it.
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