Sustainability

• Sustainability Initiatives

• CSIF reviewed the ESG issues (materiality) of particular importance to CSIF and clarified the objectives of its future activities.
• In the future, CSIF will achieve its goals by setting KPIs and implementing specific measures for materiality items

• CSIF and CSAM updated the ESG Report published in February 2023 and the Sustainability Report in February 2026.

As of August 13, 2019, our asset manager, Canadian Solar Asset Management K.K. (“CSAM”) , became the first Japanese asset manager of a listed infrastructure fund to be a signatory to the UN PRI (United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Investment) to promote ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investments.
As a signatory to the UN PRI, CSAM devised an “Approach to UN PRI Guidelines” as of the end of December 2020 as its basic ESG policy, which can be found on CSIF’s website as of February 17, 2021.

TCFD was established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to promote transparency on climate-related information disclosures and discuss implementation methods for financial institutions.As of February 14, 2022, CSIF conducts climate-related disclosures in accordance with the guidelines of the TCFD Recommendations.

• In order to prevent greenwashing (falsely claiming the sustainability of a particular product) and to create a more transparent playing field for ESG investors in their investment decisionmaking, EU SFDR was created for the purpose of enhancing transparency of sustainable investment.
• Disclosure covers all information relevant to policies on sustainability risk, sustainability of financial products, and ESG factors.CSIF is scheduled to conduct SFDR Article 8 disclosure requirements of pre-defined ESG (environmental, social, governance) factors.

• CSIF revised a new Green Finance Framework which obtained a Green1 (F) assessment from JCR, the highest assessment rating as of June 30, 2023. The green rating has now also been applied to the issuance of new investment units and CSIF has issued new investment units as “Green Equity.” Going forward, all CSIF’s finance, whether equity or debt finance, will be green finance, in principle.

The Canadian Solar Group is focused on reducing the environmental impact from solar panel manufacturing processes such as greenhouse gases and industrial waste water and have achieved the following reductions in our environmental impact from 2017 to 2024.

• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (/ MW)

  2017

  Approx. 154 ton

  - 54 %

  2024

  Approx. 71 ton

• Reduction of industrial water consumption (/ MW)

  2017

  Approx. 2,249 ton

  - 75 %

  2024

  Approx. 566 ton

Power plant carefully developed by protecting the rich environment of Daisen-cho

The district in which CS Daisen-cho Power Plant is located is in close proximity to districts known for their diverse and rich ecological environments with forests, plants and wild birds. Efforts were made to refrain from using chainsaws when developing the project to avoid damaging the habitat of rare species of indigenous falcons, while painting the fence around the site using camouflage colors.
The power plant can provide 27MWp of clean regenerated energy, equivalent to electricity for approximately 8,000 households.

In Hiji-machi, where CS Hiji-machi Power Plant and CS Hiji-machi Dai-ni Power Plant are located, the “Xavier’s Way Walking Event,” which follows a scenic historic route believed to have been traveled by Francis Xavier, is held every October. The Asset Manager sponsors this event, and employees of the Asset Manager have regularly participated each year.
In addition, the “Joka Kare Festival” is held annually in May in Hiji-machi, and the Asset Manager also provides sponsorship for this festival.

The sponsor and CSAM offered donations to the Marumori-machi Town Government. The town was severely hit by Typhoon Hagibis in October 2019.