Toronto, April 22, 2022 – Guardian Capital Group Limited (Guardian) (TSX:GCG) (TSX:GCG.A), announced today that it has joined The Pond Foundation as a founding member. The Pond Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to change the way the world acts on climate change. Their signature climate action program, My Carbon Zero, was created to inspire people and organizations to take their own strong, credible climate action.
As part of this partnership, Guardian and all of its subsidiaries will balance their annual carbon emissions from 2022 onwards, both by reducing their own emissions and by investing in external, nature-based projects which remove carbon from the atmosphere.
“At Guardian, we often talk of the opportunity we have to enrich lives together, which is why we are so excited to serve as a founding member of The Pond Foundation,” said George Mavroudis, Guardian’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Not only will they help us sharpen our focus in reducing our own emissions, but we feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to invest through them in projects around the world that are making a difference.”
“We are thrilled to have Guardian as a pioneer founding member committed to the strong, credible climate action The Pond Foundation proposes,” said Scott Poynton, Founder and CEO, The Pond Foundation. “They’ve committed to being carbon zero from this point on, and have put their money where their mouth is by investing in our high-quality, nature-based projects that remove all their current year’s carbon emissions from the atmosphere immediately. In addition to the climate benefits, these projects generate huge co-benefits for community livelihoods, biodiversity conservation and the environment more generally. We are incredibly enthusiastic about all of the good that we can do together.”
Guardian’s commitment to investing in projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere is initiallyfocused on four organizations:
- Ricehouse - Promotes the circular economy from the field to the house with rice-based construction material.
- Husk Ventures - Produces carbon-based fertilizers and natural pesticides for smallholder farmers in Asia, transforming rice-husk into biochar products to regenerate soils, increase smallholders’ revenues and sequester carbon.
- Wild Asia - Improves soil health and livelihoods by promoting climate-smart, regenerative agricultural practices through the production of biochar by smallholder farmers.
- Tanoe-Ehy Forest - Improves livelihoods and governance structures for local people, protects critical habitats and biodiversity, helps to crack down on illegal logging and bushmeat hunting, and more.
While Guardian’s immediate focus is on balancing its annual carbon emissions, the firm is also looking at implementing the full My Carbon Zero framework and will have more to announce in this regard in the coming months.
For further information, please contact: Angela Shim(416) 947-8009
About Guardian Capital Group Limited
Guardian Capital Group Limited (Guardian) is a diversified, global financial services company operating in two main business segments: Investment Management and Wealth Management. As at December 31, 2021, Guardian had C$56.3 billion of assets under management and C$31.5 billion of assets under administration. Guardian provides extensive institutional and private wealth financial solutions to clients through its subsidiaries, while offering comprehensive wealth management services to financial advisors in its national mutual fund dealer, securities dealer and insurance distribution network. It also maintains and manages a proprietary investment portfolio with a fair market value of C$752 million as at December 31, 2021. Founded in 1962, Guardian’s reputation for steady growth, long-term relationships and its core values of trustworthiness, integrity and stability have been key to its success over six decades. Its Common and Class A shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as GCG and GCG.A, respectively. To learn more about Guardian, visit www.guardiancapital.com.
