TD Bank Group sets new $500 billion Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target by 2030

New target is focused on supporting environmental, decarbonization and social activities as part of the Bank's broader ESG Strategy

TORONTO, March 16, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, TD Bank Group (TD or the Bank) launched a new Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target to support its customers, clients and the communities it serves by aiming to mobilize $500 billion CAD by 2030 through financial activities including lending, financing, underwriting, advisory services, insurance, and the Bank's own investments.

This new target represents the next step in the Bank's efforts to help support its customers and clients in the transition to a low-carbon economy and help contribute to improving social outcomes. The eligible environmental, decarbonization and social activities are focused on supporting progress toward key sustainability objectives of TD such as climate change mitigation and adaptation and economic inclusion.

"Mobilizing sustainable finance is a valuable business opportunity as well as a critical part of our work towards our target of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with our operations and financing activities by 2050," said Janice Farrell Jones, SVP of Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship, TD Bank Group. "Our new Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target is an exciting next step forward that builds on the progress we've been making for over a decade to help drive positive and measurable impacts on society and our environment, and to help contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable future."

As part of the announcement, TD published a Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target Methodology which outlines the Bank's approach to categorizing, assessing, and reporting on progress towards its new target, including:

• The financial activities of the Bank that contribute toward the target, including lending, financing, underwriting, advisory services, insurance, and the Bank's own investments.
• The environmental, decarbonization and social activities eligible to be counted toward the target, including mapping to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
• A governance process to help support its work to quantify, validate, monitor, and report progress toward the target.

TD intends to annually report, on a cumulative basis, about its progress toward the Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target in one or more future ESG-related reports.

In 2017, TD was the first major Canadian bank to set a financial target of $100 billion CAD to be deployed by 2030 toward low-carbon lending, financing, asset management and internal corporate programs. In 2022, the Bank achieved this target and details can be found in the 2022 ESG Report.

Today TD also released its 2022 ESG Reporting Suite, which provides information on the Bank's strategy and performance related to environmental, social and governance matters. To view these reports, please visit: https://www.td.com/ca/en/about-td/for-investors/economic-social-governance-reporting/

*All values stated are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise stated  

About TD Bank Group

The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the fifth largest bank in North America by assets and serves over 27 million customers in four key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, including TD Canada Trust and TD Auto Finance Canada; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank^®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in The Charles Schwab Corporation; Wealth Management and Insurance, including TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with more than 15 million active online and mobile customers. TD had $1.9 trillion in assets on January 31, 2023. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Disclosure on the Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target

This document is not required to be prepared or filed by the Toronto-Dominion Bank (the "Bank" or "TD") under Canadian or U.S. securities laws. While the information provided in this document may be relevant and of interest to our stakeholders, it should not be read as a determination of materiality for disclosure required in our securities law filings. This document also contains statements that are forward-looking, and subject to the Bank's caution regarding forward-looking statements as set out in the Bank's Report to Shareholders for the year ended October 31, 2022, which is available at www.td.com.

Because of the limitations and uncertainties inherent in climate and sustainability science and climate and sustainability risk analysis and reporting, the Bank has relied upon various market practices, taxonomies, methodologies, criteria and standards and made reasonable and good faith approximations and assumptions in establishing its Sustainable & Decarbonization Finance Target (the "Target"). However, there are many factors that are the subject of evolving climate and sustainability science and that the Bank may not foresee or be able to accurately predict, which may impact TD's ability to achieve the Target. Those factors include the availability of comprehensive and high-quality data (including from TD's clients), the assumptions underlying third-party decarbonization scenarios, economic trends (including changes in interest rates), fluctuations in our clients' enterprise values, the applicable domestic and international regulatory and legislative regimes, the need for active and continuing participation of stakeholders (including enterprises, financial institutions and governmental and non-governmental organizations), the development and deployment of new technologies and production methods, border measures and the availability of sector-specific solutions, among other unforeseen events or conditions. These and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from the Bank's Target and may result in the Bank adapting its Target to reflect a changing climate and regulatory context.

In particular, readers should be aware that in order to set the Target: TD has assumed, among other things, continued growth in its clients' investments in and expenditures on environmental, decarbonization and social activities in light of regulatory, policy, economic, technological, climatic and other trends. If these assumptions prove to be inaccurate, it may impact TD's ability to meet its Target.

• TD has also assumed ordinary rates of growth and development of the business. Changes in TD's business (including in its lending, financing, underwriting and advisory services, and in its own investments), its ownership and control of subsidiaries and its geographic footprint (including through relocations, mergers, acquisitions, or dispositions) could have a material effect on TD's Target.
• In addition, there could be changes to the market practices, taxonomies, methodologies, criteria and standards that regulators, the financial sector, the Bank and its clients use to determine the eligibility of financial transactions and environmental, decarbonization and social activities for inclusion toward sustainability and decarbonization targets. There may also be changes to the methodologies and standards for classifying, measuring, reporting on and verifying such transactions and activities. TD may update the Target, its progress toward the Target and the eligibility of certain transactions and activities, as appropriate, in light of evolving market practices, taxonomies, methodologies, criteria and standards.
• To set, track and report on progress toward meeting its Target, TD must rely on data obtained from clients and other third-party sources. TD's use of third-party data shall not be taken as an endorsement of the third-party or its data or be construed as granting any form of intellectual property. Although TD believes these sources are reliable, the Bank has not independently verified any third-party data, or assessed the assumptions underlying such data, and cannot guarantee the accuracy of such third-party data or assumptions. The data used by TD in connection with the Target, including to evaluate clients' intended use of capital, may therefore be limited in quality, unavailable, or inconsistent across certain sectors. Certain third-party data may also change over time as market practices, taxonomies, methodologies, criteria and standards evolve. These factors and related uncertainties could have a material effect on the Target and TD's ability to meet the Target.
• "Sustainable finance" and "decarbonization" market practices, taxonomies, methodologies, criteria and standards are also evolving. As a result, the Bank's use of these terms, and its eligibility criteria for the Target, may vary over time with reference to such changes. Any references to "sustainable investing," "sustainable finance," "ESG," "carbon neutral", "NetZero" or similar terms in this document are intended as references to the internally defined criteria of the Bank and not to any jurisdiction-specific regulatory definition that may exist.

This document should not be used as a basis for trading in securities of the Bank or for any other investment decision. This document is not intended to constitute financial, legal, tax, investment, professional or expert advice. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made in relation to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information contained in this document. 

SOURCE TD Bank Group

Leslie O'Leary, Senior Manager, Corporate and Public Affairs, TD Bank Group, [email protected]