We created the CPP Investments Insights Institute to better understand how transformative forces, such as climate change, technology disruption and stakeholder capitalism, influence investment strategies and impact the world. A better understanding of these forces and their effect on the investing landscape will help us create enduring value for current and future generations. We believe our mandate—maximizing returns for the Canada Pension Plan’s contributors and beneficiaries without undue risk, considering the factors affecting its funding—demands nothing less. The reality is we can’t do it alone; each investor is a participant in complex markets and in the enterprises in which they invest. The Institute is our platform for sharing knowledge and collaborating with fellow investors, CEOs, policy makers and others to engage on ways to overcome obstacles as we mobilize capital.
Policy leaders in Canada created CPP Investments a quarter century ago with a straightforward though significant goal: expose pension contributions to capital markets to fix an unsustainable pension promise. Today, after two decades of experience, we have become one of the most active and successful forces within global investment markets. The work is never done and, indeed, the decades ahead will likely be even more uncertain and complex, while still offering an opportunity to solidify our strengths. While we are simply one voice, we speak for 22 million stakeholders. We are dedicated to enhancing what markets can do for current and future beneficiaries and to improving the investment environment in which we operate. We remain committed to the long view.
As the world grapples with an unprecedented speed of change, long-term investors face a serious challenge. We must adapt to the urgent and evolving mix of complex macro forces—from climate change and geopolitical tensions to skill shortages and tectonic shifts in how we work—while maintaining an unwavering focus on our mandate. We know these transformative forces, and others that will inevitably follow, are changing not just what we invest in, but how we work with those investments and partner with our stakeholders to maximize returns.
Our vision is to help create a prosperous investment ecosystem that delivers financially sustainable returns while addressing the biggest challenges of our time. While we expect to cover the full range of issues relevant to long-term investors, we will begin with a specific focus on three broad, yet urgent themes. The first is climate change. The second is the importance of actively shaping technology disruption and its consequences. And the third is stakeholder capitalism.