Stewardship in Practice

The university believes stewardship improves the management of ESG risks and opportunities, which will be important to deliver superior long-term risk-adjusted returns. The university will exercise its rights as an investor by taking into account ESG considerations and use the Stewardship tools listed below in its overall management of ESG risks and opportunities.

Advocacy

In February 2025, the University of Victoria joined 33 Canadian asset owners, led by the Trottier Family Foundation, in signing an open letter urging Canada’s major banks and asset management firms to uphold their net-zero commitments.

The letter expressed concern over recent withdrawals from the UN-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance and Net Zero Asset Manager initiative, emphasizing the importance of membership in such initiatives for accountability, transparency, and consistent reporting. The signatories, representing $53 billion in assets, called on these financial institutions to maintain their 2050 net-zero commitments, establish robust 2030 science-based targets, and provide standardized annual progress updates.

Escalation

As part of our escalation practices, we raised concerns with one of the fixed income managers adding Boeing bonds to its portfolio. Boeing's 2024 was marred by significant safety and quality control failures, beginning with a door-plug blowout in January, leading to increased regulatory scrutiny, grounded flights, and investigations. These systemic issues were highlighted by a whistleblower's allegations of manufacturing shortcuts, a major strike by workers, and reports of non-compliance in manufacturing processes. Consequently, the company faced hundreds of millions of dollars in fines, a criminal investigation, and a loss of trust from the public and customers, impacting its financial performance and reputation.

From a fixed income perspective, Boeing held a BBB- credit rating and, when facing the risk of a further downgrade to non-investment grade, began raising equity at the expense of equity holders to keep bondholders happy. While the manager initially justified the position as a relative value trade, we engaged with them on the risks tied to Boeing’s governance and financial decisions. Following these discussions, the manager informed the university that they had exited the position as the firm ultimately felt that the relative value position had run its course.

Collective Engagement

We are a member of the University Network for Investor Engagement (UNIE), through the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE). Alongside 16 other post-secondary institutions, we work to engage companies on climate-related discourse, leading to tangible changes and progress in corporate sustainability practices.

Engagement—the act of communicating with a company on critical issues, as an investment shareholder and overall stakeholder—enables investors to use their voices to support better corporate sustainability policies and practices. Through collaboration with both the UNIE network and the larger SHARE network, we have a voice with scale, leading engagements that are supported by rigorous research and deep expertise from SHARE’s staff and strategic partners.

UNIE focuses on engaging on the following issues:

  • Focus Area 1: Financing Climate Action and Energy Transition
  • Focus Area 2: A Sectoral Approach to Oil & Gas
  • Focus Area 3: Decarbonizing Utilities
  • Focus Area 4: Mining for Just Transition
  • Focus Area 5: Science-Based Targets for Retail
  • Focus Area 6: Fueling Innovation for Transport

These examples reflect the university’s commitment to active stewardship and prudent risk management.