TORONTO, March 12,
2024 /CNW/ - CIBC (TSX: CM) (NYSE: CM) today
released its annual environmental, social and governance (ESG)
disclosures that include the 2023 Sustainability Report and Public
Accountability Statement, and the 2023 Climate Report. The
disclosures provide an update on the bank's ESG progress and
outline how the bank is helping to drive positive change toward a
more sustainable future.
"Our commitment to enabling a more secure, equitable, and
sustainable future has never been more important, as we live our
purpose of helping make ambitions real," said Victor G. Dodig, CIBC President and CEO. "Banks
are uniquely positioned to help address some of our biggest social
and environmental challenges, and we have a shared responsibility
to act – across our bank and the broader community."
Key highlights from the reports
include:
Building integrity and trust:
- Advanced the evolution of our artificial intelligence (AI)
governance and risk management processes. This includes Generative
AI guidelines for all CIBC team members, creation of a Generative
AI Adoption and Oversight Council and 'Trustworthy AI' Principles,
which are the foundation of our AI Governance program.
- Enhanced our Data Ethics Impact and Risk Assessment process to
ensure we consistently enhance how we identify ethical data risks
including impacts on clients, employees and our brand.
- Received five awards for our mobile banking services, which
recognized CIBC for its client experience, innovative features,
security and ease of use. These include #1 ranking overall in
Surviscor's Consumer Mobile Banking Experience and tying for #1
ranking in Customer Satisfaction in the J.D. Power 2023 Canada
Banking Mobile App Satisfaction Study.
Creating access to opportunities:
- Increased the share of women in Board-approved Executive roles
to 39% women and increased representation of people of colour in
Board-approved executive roles to 25%
(globally).(1)
- Provided more than $66 million
globally in corporate and Team CIBC contributions to community
investment initiatives, with a focus on supporting persons with
disabilities, Indigenous peoples, and members of the Black
community.(2)
- Named as the inaugural recipient of 2023 Employment Equity
Achievement Award for Indigenous Reconciliation from the Canadian
federal Labour Program for our commitment to partnerships with
Indigenous communities, innovative approaches to Indigenous
recruitment, and reconciliation-focused training for Canadian team
members.
Accelerating climate action:
- Achieved a 26.3% cumulative reduction in absolute greenhouse
gas emissions (Scope 1 & 2) from our operations in Canada and the U.S. since 2018(3)
and we are on track to reach our goal of 30% reduction by
2028.
- Became Platinum Certified for Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED), the highest level of achievement under
the LEED building rating system, for our workplace at CIBC SQUARE,
our global headquarters.
- Announced a 2030 interim net-zero target for our automotive
manufacturing portfolio and demonstrated continued progress towards
our 2030 interim net-zero targets for our oil and gas and power
generation portfolios.
- Disclosed the absolute financed emissions for three new
portfolios in addition to providing updates to previously disclosed
portfolios using the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials
(PCAF) methodology.
"In 2023, we focused on executing against our sustainability
priorities and furthering initiatives across our bank to contribute
to a more inclusive and prosperous future," said Kikelomo Lawal, CIBC Executive Vice-President,
Chief Legal Officer and Chair of the Senior Executive ESG Council.
"We will continue to advance our progress, drive positive change
and enable a more sustainable and inclusive future for our clients,
team members, communities and the planet."
CIBC's Sustainability Report has been prepared with reference to
the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and mapped to the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
For more details, please refer to CIBC's Sustainability
Reporting website and accompanying ESG data tables which provide
the bank's performance trends.
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(1) Board-approved
executive roles include Vice-Presidents and above appointed to
their role as of October 31, 2023. All data is based on
self-identification voluntarily disclosed by employees as of
October 31, 2023 and excludes temporary employees, contingent
workers, retirees, and CIBC First Caribbean. People of colour
includes those who self-identify as visible minorities in Canada
and non-white outside of Canada. Visible minorities are defined as
persons – other than Indigenous peoples – who self-identify as
non-white.
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(2) In 2022, we set a
goal to contribute $800 million over the decade (2023 – 2032) to
community investment. This includes cash and in-kind contributions,
time, management costs, and employee giving and fundraising (Team
CIBC). Cash and in-kind contributions includes donations and
grants, sponsorships, and the value of in-kind contributions that
CIBC makes in support of charities and non-profit organizations,
including to the CIBC Foundation, that follow the contribution
principles set by Imagine Canada's Caring Company Certification.
Sponsorships also include contributions in support of
organizations, that may have a for-profit structure, where the
activities supported have a social purpose that benefits the
community. Sponsorships may have rights and benefits attached,
including public brand benefits, and in the case of fundraising
events, may have advantages attached (such as meals, prizes, and
merchandise). Time includes employee volunteerism (by regular
employees in Canada) that occurs during working hours (time paid
for by CIBC) which is calculated by multiplying the average hourly
employee wage of regular employees in Canada (excluding executives,
employees participating in specialized compensation programs, and
employees on an extended leave of absence) by the total hours
volunteered. Management costs include costs related to running
CIBC's community investment program. Examples include employee
compensation and benefits, information technology fees and costs
relating to the promotion of community programs. Team CIBC is
defined as regular employees and retirees who donate or fundraise
in support of charities and non-profit organizations, including
CIBC Miracle Day fundraising. Team CIBC excludes CIBC First
Caribbean.
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(3) Reduction in
absolute GHG emissions (location-based Scope 1 and 2) versus the
baseline year of 2018. 2023 data is as of August 1, 2022 – July 31,
2023.
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A note about forward-looking
statements
From time to time, we make written or oral forward-looking
statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, including
in this Report, in other filings with Canadian securities
regulators or the SEC and in other communications. All such
statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of,
and are intended to be forward-looking statements under applicable
Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements include, but are not limited to, statements in this
Report related to our purpose – to help make our clients' ambitions
a reality, priorities, targets, metrics, sustainability commitments
(including our $300 billion by 2030
sustainable finance goal, the implementation and update of our
Sustainable Finance Methodology, our 2030 interim net-zero targets
and reducing operational GHG emissions) and goals, as well as our
economic and environmental, social and governance (ESG) related
impacts and objectives, including but not limited to, sustainable
financing, data ethics, inclusion, employee engagement, making a
difference in the community, inclusive banking and accelerating
climate action. Forward-looking statements are typically identified
by the words "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend",
"estimate", "forecast", "target", "predict", "commit", "ambition",
"goal", "strive", "project", "objective" and other similar
expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", "may",
"should", "would" and "could". By their nature, these statements
require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks
and uncertainties that may be general or specific, which give rise
to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections,
expectations or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that our
assumptions may not be correct and that our priorities, targets,
commitments and goals, and economic and ESG related impacts and
objectives will not be achieved. As we work to advance our ESG
goals, external factors outside of CIBC's reasonable control may
act as constraints on achieving these goals, including inflationary
pressures, global supply-chain disruptions, geopolitical risk,
including from the war in Ukraine
and conflict in the Middle East,
the occurrence, continuance or intensification of public health
emergencies, such as the impact of post-pandemic hybrid work
arrangements, and any related government policies and actions, the
failure of third parties to comply with their obligations to us and
our affiliates or associates, our ability to implement various
sustainability-related initiatives internally and with our clients
under expected time frames, our ability to scale our sustainable
finance products and services, the availability of comprehensive
and high-quality GHG emissions data (including from CIBC's clients)
and standardization of ESG-related measurement methodologies, the
evolution of our lending portfolios over time, the need for active
and continuing participation, cooperation and collaboration from
various stakeholders (including enterprises, financial
institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations and
individuals), deployment of new technologies and industry-specific
solutions, the evolution of consumer behaviour, varying
decarbonization efforts across economies, the need for thoughtful
climate policies globally, the challenges of balancing interim
emissions goals with an orderly transition, and the continuing
development and evolution of regulations, guidelines, principles,
and frameworks internationally and CIBC's compliance thereto, which
could lead to us to being subject to various legal and regulatory
proceedings, the potential outcome of which could include
regulatory restrictions, penalties and fines. These and other
factors may cause actual results to differ materially from the
expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements and may
require CIBC to adapt its initiatives and activities or adjust its
commitments, metrics, targets and goals. The forward-looking
statements in this Report are presented for the purpose of
assisting clients and others in understanding our objectives and
strategic priorities, and may not be appropriate for other
purposes. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking
statement except as required by law.
About CIBC
CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with 14
million personal banking, business, public sector and institutional
clients. Across Personal and Business Banking, Commercial Banking
and Wealth Management, and Capital Markets and Direct Financial
Services businesses, CIBC offers a full range of advice, solutions
and services through its leading digital banking network, and
locations across Canada, in the United States and around the world.
Ongoing news releases and more information about CIBC can be found
at www.cibc.com/ca/media-centre.
SOURCE CIBC