GUELPH,
ON, July 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/
-- 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.
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."
About Canadian Solar Inc.
Canadian Solar was founded
in 2001 in Canada and is one of
the world's largest solar technology and renewable energy
companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic
modules, provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions,
and developer of utility-scale solar power and battery storage
projects with a geographically diversified pipeline in various
stages of development. Over the past 20 years, Canadian Solar has
successfully delivered around 71 GW of premium-quality, solar
photovoltaic modules to customers across the world. Likewise, since
entering the project development business in 2010, Canadian Solar
has developed, built and connected over 6.6 GWp in over 20
countries across the world. Currently, the Company has around 800
MWp of solar projects in operation, 5.3 GWp of projects under
construction or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional 18.5 GWp
of projects in pipeline (mid- to early-stage). Canadian Solar
is one of the most bankable companies in the solar and renewable
energy industry, having been publicly listed on the NASDAQ since
2006. For additional information about the Company, follow
Canadian Solar on LinkedIn or
visit www.canadiansolar.com.
Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements
Certain
statements in this press release are forward-looking statements
that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially. These statements are made
under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify
forward-looking statements by such terms as "believes," "expects,"
"anticipates," "intends," "estimates," the negative of these terms,
or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ include general business, regulatory and economic
conditions and the state of the solar and battery storage market
and industry; geopolitical tensions and conflicts, including
impasses, sanctions and export controls; volatility, uncertainty,
delays and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic; supply
chain disruptions; governmental support for the deployment of solar
power; future available supplies of high-purity silicon; demand for
end-use products by consumers and inventory levels of such products
in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers;
changes in demand from major markets, such as Japan, the U.S., China, Brazil
and India; changes in effective
tax rates; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product
mix; changes in corporate responsibility, especially environmental,
social and governance ("ESG") requirements; capacity utilization;
level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in or failure
to timely adjust average selling prices; delays in new product
introduction; delays in utility-scale project approval process;
delays in utility-scale project construction; delays in the
completion of project sales; continued success in technological
innovations and delivery of products with the features that
customers demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity
requirements; availability of financing; exchange and inflation
rate fluctuations; uncertainties related to the CSI Solar carve-out
listing; litigation and other risks as described in the Company's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its
annual report on Form 20-F filed on April
28, 2022. Although the Company believes that the
expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are
reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity,
performance, or achievements. Investors should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements. All information
provided in this press release is as of today's date, unless
otherwise stated, and Canadian Solar undertakes no duty to update
such information, except as required under applicable law.
Canadian Solar Inc. Investor Relations
Contacts
Isabel Zhang
Investor Relations
Canadian Solar Inc.
investor@canadiansolar.com
David Pasquale
Global IR Partners
Tel: +1-914-337-8801
csiq@globalirpartners.com
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SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.