Toronto – June 25, 2020 – The Responsible Investment Association (RIA) is pleased to announce the release of its 2019 annual report. The report summarizes the organization’s progress along its five strategic priorities for achieving the RIA’s overarching goal of driving the adoption of responsible investing (RI) in Canada’s retail and institutional markets.
The year 2019 was a milestone for responsible investors who incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment decisions. Issues such as environmental sustainability, human capital management, diversity and inclusion have become corporate imperatives. Responsible investment (RI) has boomed as both a cause and consequence of this evolution in corporate thinking. So too has the RIA.
RIA membership continues to grow across both organizational and individual segments. We finished 2019 with 271 individual members, up from 210 a year prior, and our organizational membership grew from 100 to 128 over the same period. Combined, our total membership grew from 310 to 399 during 2019 – a growth rate of 28.7%.
The annual RIA Conference is Canada’s flagship event on responsible investment, and we continue to convene ever-larger audiences. In 2019, we hosted a record 580 attendees at our conference in Montréal, up 31.8% from our previous record of 440 in Toronto a year earlier.
By the end of 2019, we granted a total of 818 RI designations, more than doubling our cumulative figure within one year. This growth is driven primarily by strong uptake of our Responsible Investment Specialist (RIS) program among retail advisors.
The RIA’s five strategic priorities:
- Market Education: Promoting awareness, understanding, and demand for RI;
- Integration: Supporting the integration of RI within investment firms and advisor practices;
- Advocacy: Working towards a policy framework that is conducive to RI;
- Brand & Reputation: Bolstering the RIA’s national brand & reputation as the leading hub for RI;
- Capacity Building: Building our financial and human capital resources to support these goals.
The Annual Report summarizes our work toward delivering on these priorities in 2019.
Download the full report here.
About the Responsible Investment Association
The Responsible Investment Association (RIA) is a nonprofit, membership-based organization dedicated to the advancement of responsible investment in Canada. The RIA’s membership is composed of over 400 institutional investors and investment professionals who practice and support responsible investing. To learn more about the RIA, please visit www.riacanada.ca.
