Amid rising geopolitical tensions, economic volatility, and a North American retreat from ESG commitments, Desjardins Group has released its 2025 Climate Action Report and its Social and Cooperative Responsibility Report—two documents that chart the progress and setbacks of the past five years. Since announcing its ambition to reach net‑zero emissions by 2040, Canada’s largest cooperative financial institution has stayed the course and remained a stabilizing force in the national financial landscape, managing $524.3 billion in assets as of March 31, 2026.
Still, the path has been far from smooth. Desjardins’ latest findings offer both guidance and a stark reminder of the mounting challenges building owners face as they work to deliver essential sustainability upgrades.
“Even though we’ve made real and meaningful progress, these reports show the complexity and challenges of decarbonization,” said Gildas Poissonnier, Chief Sustainability Officer at Desjardins. “Above all, they show that we need to keep moving forward, using reliable data and robust tools, while still remaining attentive to the needs and circumstances of our members and clients during this transition.”
While Canada has seen some pushback against ESG in the past two years, in the United States it has become a highly polarized political issue, with state‑level legislation restricting ESG investing, public campaigns targeting financial institutions, and explicit anti‑ESG mandates. Despite this resistance, Desjardins again earned MSCI’s highest ESG rating of AAA in 2025 and reported strong progress across several key areas.
Specifically, renewable energy lending has increased from 28 to 73 per cent of its energy portfolio since 2020, supported by $8.3 billion in transition‑aligned commitments. The institution has also invested more than $2 billion in renewable energy infrastructure, while four sustainable and green bond issuances totaling $2.2 billion—including a $500 million issuance in 2025—signaled growing momentum for green multifamily financing. Desjardins further reports a 27 per cent reduction in operational GHG intensity and a 32 per cent reduction in emissions intensity from investment and lending activities. Yet even as total assets rose by 55 per cent, financed emissions remained flat, showing that portfolio expansion has outpaced its ability to drive down total emissions.
“Our progress over the last five years has reinforced our belief that meaningful climate action requires collective effort,” the report contends. “To make real headway toward a fairer, more equitable and low‑carbon economy, we need a political, economic and regulatory ecosystem that is coherent and motivating—one that unites public‑ and private‑sector players and keeps them moving in the same direction.”
For Canadian apartment owners, Desjardins’ findings reinforce what the sector has long understood: meaningful climate action is only viable within a coordinated ecosystem that provides predictable policy, financing incentives, and technical support. For operators managing aging building stock, capital constraints, and mounting regulatory pressures, the shift to low‑carbon operations demands continual adjustment in an already challenging environment. As retrofit costs rise, tenant affordability pressures intensify, and provincial regulations evolve, alignment across policy, finance, and technical capacity is becoming increasingly essential.
Desjardins’ CEO Denis Dubois underscored this need, stating, “The energy transition can’t happen in isolation. It needs to take into account economic and operational realities. It means we’ll need to make important decisions and continually adjust in an environment that is still demanding.”
Collaboration as a climate strategy
While decarbonization is proving slower and more complex than anticipated—especially as portfolios grow—reliable data and standardized tools remain critical for tracking emissions across diverse building types. At the same time, Desjardins emphasizes the need for collaboration across public, private, and non-profit sectors to scale affordable, low‑carbon housing, even as green financing mechanisms—from sustainable bonds to blended‑capital funds—become increasingly central to rental housing development and retrofits.
“We’re determined to continue incorporating ESG factors into our activities and products because we believe they’re a source of more sustainable growth,” the report adds—signaling that capital providers will increasingly expect, and reward, credible climate strategies, transparent reporting, and investments in resilient, efficient buildings.
Recently, the group has advanced several collaborative initiatives with direct relevance to housing, including Décarbone+, developed with partner institutions to help businesses understand and reduce emissions; a $400,000 investment with Cycle Momentum to support climate‑tech start-ups emerging from Quebec universities; and the Amplifier Fund, a $50 million partnership with the Société d’habitation du Québec and six foundations to expand affordable rental housing with a low environmental footprint. It also launched partnerships for renewable energy and storage projects with First Nations and regional alliances, as well as supported the installation of 477 EV charging stations across Quebec and Ontario, reflecting infrastructure shifts that will be increasingly expected in modern rental communities.
Taken together, these findings point to a sector‑wide inflection point. As financial institutions maintain, or even sharpen, their climate commitments and governments advance new regulatory expectations, rental housing providers will increasingly operate in an environment where low‑carbon performance is tied to both risk management and access to capital. Desjardins’ 2025 reporting makes clear that progress is possible when policy, financing, and technical capacity move in alignment—and the path forward will depend on sustained collaboration, predictable frameworks, and continued investment in resilient, efficient buildings.
