POWER THE WORLD WITH SOLAR ENERGY

As a global leading renewable energy company, Canadian Solar aims to power the world with solar energy and to create a cleaner Earth for future generations.  At Canadian Solar, we incorporate ESG, or environmental, social and governance considerations into our business and strategic decision making process. We will continue to take efforts to improve our practices to ensure long-term sustainability. We revamped our sustainability strategy and prepared our Sustainability Report in line with the global standards, namely SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board), TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative). CLICK AND DOWNLOAD Canadian Solar 2021 ESG Sustainability Report and Documents.

ENVIRONMENTAL

In 2021, we achieved reductions in our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy intensity, water intensity, and waste intensity of 17%, 18%, 53%, and 36%, respectively, from our 2017 baselines. We updated our 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. Likewise, we remains on track to powering all its global operations with 100% renewable energy before 2030.

SOCIAL

By 2026, we aim to increase female employees’ representation in our 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%. We also plan to increase the share of our employees with special needs to 1-2% (from 0.8% in 2021). We are certified under ISO14001 environmental and ISO45001 occupational health and safety management systems, and our recordable injury rate in 2021 was 0.68 cases per million working hours, the 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 our company and the solar industry, drive innovation, and more effective collaboration. Committing to a responsible supply chain, we integrate ESG into our supply chain management strategy by requiring all suppliers to sign the Supplier Code of Conduct and conducting Supplier ESG audits. We further affirmed our commitment by establishing an interdepartmental Anti-Modern Slavery Task Force aiming to ensure that modern slavery does not take place anywhere in our business, including our supply chain.

GOVERNANCE

Canadian Solar's Sustainability Committee reviews sustainability (including climate)-related risks and opportunities associated with our strategy and business development; monitors progress, advises, and assists the Board on strategic measures related to the Company’s long-term sustainability; and oversees the progress and execution of ESG plans. We continuously make efforts to improve the diversity of the Board. Our 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. Canadian Solar's sustainability policies provide a framework for our sustainability commitments. CLICK AND DOWNLOAD Canadian Solar Sustainability Policies.

GREEN FINANCING

Canadian Solar, as part of its long-standing commitment to sustainability, developed the Canadian Solar Green Financing Framework (“Green Financing Framework”) under which Canadian Solar, or any of its subsidiaries, will issue green financing instruments including green bonds, project finance, green loans, and other eligible financial instruments to finance and/or refinance investments made in renewable power generation and/or storage assets or businesses and to support the ongoing development of clean energy technologies. Canadian Solar’s Green Financing Framework is designed to be in line with the International Capital Market Association (“ICMA”) Green Bond Principles 2021 amended in June 2022 (“GBP”), aiming to encompass further issuances in the capital markets, and the Green Loan Principles of 2018 (“GLP”) published by the Loan Market Association, aiming to encompass bilateral or syndicated loans with financial institutions and/or multilateral agencies. CLICK AND DOWNLOAD Canadian Solar Green Financing Framework and Second-Party Opinion. Case Study Canadian Solar’s indirectly wholly owned subsidiary Canadian Solar EMEA Capital Markets, S.A.U. on December 2, 2021 successfully completed a EUR30 million green bond issuance due on December 2026 under its EUR100 million Canadian Solar EMEA Green Medium Term Note Program in the Spanish multilateral trading facility (MTF) for debt securities (MARF). The notes are qualified as “green bonds” pursuant to the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Green Bond Principals and the Green Financing Framework adopted by Canadian Solar in Europe, Middle East and Africa, or EMEA region. CLICK to see more details.