At RBC GAM*, we believe that being an active, engaged and responsible owner empowers us to enhance the long-term, sustainable performance of our portfolios. We recognize that the rights we have as a large, global investor come with the obligation to actively use those rights in a responsible way.

We believe that the proper disclosure and consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities by the companies or countries in which we are invested is critical to strengthening the overall performance of our portfolios. We integrate all relevant ESG factors into our our investment process.

Our commitment to integrate ESG factors into our investment process is firm-wide. In addition, we have a dedicated Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment (CGRI) team whose role is to advance ESG integration by managing and coordinating ESG research, engaging with our investee companies on ESG–related issues, overseeing all of our proxy voting, collaborating with like-minded investors and engaging with lawmakers or regulators.

Climate change has the potential to have direct and indirect impacts on the companies and countries in which we invest. The potential breadth and importance of climate-related investment risk and opportunity merits a significant focus within our ESG integration efforts. For more information about our focus on climate change in our ESG integration efforts, please refer to the "Climate Change" section of our Approach to Responsible Investment.