Canadian Solar Inc. (“Canadian Solar” or “the Company”) (NASDAQ: CSIQ) announced today the release of its 2021 Sustainability Report, which highlights the Company’s progress in advancing its sustainability strategy from an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) perspective.

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The sustainability disclosures in this report are aligned with global standards, namely those set by the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures), SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board), and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative). The full Sustainability Report is available here. 

Highlights

Environmental

• In 2021, Canadian Solar achieved reductions in its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy intensity, water intensity, and waste intensity of 17%, 18%, 53%, and 36%, respectively, from its 2017 baselines.
• Canadian Solar updated its 5-year rolling targets, aiming to achieve GHG emission, energy intensity, water intensity, and waste intensity reductions of 30%, 33%, 44% and 33%, respectively, from 2021 levels by 2026.
• Canadian Solar remains on track to powering all its global operations with 100% renewable energy before 2030.

Social

• Canadian Solar updated its 5-year diversity goals. By 2026, Canadian Solar aims to increase female employees’ representation in its global workforce from 36% to 40%, their representation in middle management from 25% to 30%, and their representation in senior management from 8% to 10%. It also plans to increase the share of its employees with special needs to 1-2% (from 0.8% in 2021).
• Certified under ISO14001 environmental and ISO45001 occupational health and safety management systems, Canadian Solar’s recordable injury rate in 2021 was 0.68 case per million working hours, its lowest rate in the past 5 years.
• Canadian Solar University launched new courses covering key business functions. This career training program aims to help employees gain a broader understanding of the Company and the solar industry, drive innovation, and more effective collaboration.
• Committing to a responsible supply chain, Canadian Solar integrates ESG into its supply chain management strategy by requiring all suppliers to sign the Supplier Code of Conduct and conducting Supplier ESG audits. The Company further affirmed its commitment by establishing an interdepartmental Anti-Modern Slavery Task Force aiming to ensure that modern slavery does not take place anywhere in its business, including its supply chain.

Governance

• Canadian Solar’s Board of Directors (“the Board”) continuously makes efforts to improve the diversity of the Board. The Company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Charter were modified in 2021 to incorporate the Board’s commitments to diversity.
• The Board passed a resolution in May 2022 mandating a third-party assessment, at reasonable cost, on the extent to which Canadian Solar’s policies and procedures effectively protect against forced labor in its operations, supply chains, and business relationships.

Ms. Hanbing Zhang, Chief Sustainability Officer, said, “We are proud of the progress made towards our sustainability goals over the past few years. In 2021, we applied more stringent and more holistic standards to our environmental metrics; we made efforts to further enhance equity, diversity and inclusion of the Company and took initiatives to manage a responsible supply chain. We recognize that continued success requires continued vigilance and look forward to further engaging with our stakeholders and making further improvements.”

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to publish our 2021 Sustainability Report. As part of the green energy revolution, Canadian Solar is committed to contributing to global decarbonization goals by delivering clean, affordable, and reliable solar energy while reducing the environmental impact from our operations. Our commitments to environmental sustainability, human rights, and positive social impacts represent both our efforts to safeguard our shared future and our dedication to building long-term value for all our stakeholders.”

Source: PRNewswire