One of our US investments goes carbon neutral
June 4, 2021
Aledade is a US firm in which we’ve owned a stake since last year. The company provides tools and resources to primary care physicians across the US to help improve outcomes for patients.
We’re proud that last month, Aledade announced their ambitions to be a sustainable company. At OMERS, we’re also committed to our purpose and to a brighter future. We believe that companies with sound Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices will perform better, particularly over the long term. This allows us to better deliver on our pension promise to you, our members.
Going carbon neutral. The firm has committed to offset any carbon emissions they can’t reduce. As a first step, the team has offset all of their 2021 Q1 (January to March) emissions by partnering with a company to find and destroy refrigerant gases, which can be tens of thousands of times more potent than other greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
Reducing emission intensity. The COVID-19 pandemic changed many companies’ carbon footprints because employees were traveling and commuting less, and offices weren’t using as much energy. But as the pandemic subsides and we gradually return to work, Aledade is committing that its work will be at least 10 percent less carbon intensive than its pre-COVID baseline. To begin with, the company is working with a solar farm in North Carolina to build enough solar panels to cover the energy usage of its Bethesda-based and remote employees.
Industry collaboration. The team will use their public platform to bring together other leaders in the healthcare industry and encourage them to make bolder sustainability commitments. They have also committed to work with business partners to find ways to help them reduce their own carbon footprints.
Thanks for your hard work, Aledade – we look forward to learning more about this effort!
You can learn more about Aledade here, and read more about our own sustainability commitments here.