MONTREAL, Nov. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WSP Global Inc. (TSX: WSP) (“WSP” or the “Corporation”) today unveiled its Biodiversity Statement, a set of guiding principles aimed at enabling WSP to engage with our clients to protect, restore, and enhance ecosystems.
“Our Biodiversity Statement will guide us towards having a positive impact on nature. We, at WSP, are change agents. Through our work for our clients, we can protect and restore ecosystems to help improve life on earth,” said Alexandre L’Heureux, WSP’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
With this statement, WSP is committing to:
- Help our clients identify opportunities to reverse the degradation of ecosystems and enhance natural capital;
- Embed and apply the mitigation hierarchy in the advice and designs we bring our clients, as applicable, by using the following sequential method:
- Avoid. Avoid negative impacts on the natural world;
- Minimize. Minimize any such impacts;
- Restore. Restore damaged sites;
- Offset. As a last resort, if any residual impacts remain, we will help our clients offset them.
- Uphold the precautionary principle in our client work, namely, to safeguard biodiversity and use prudence whenever evidence is lacking;
- Assess the impacts we have – both positive and negative – on biodiversity and, once they are better understood, set targets to address them, take action, measure progress, and report on our initiatives using recognized guidance and frameworks such as those being developed by the Science-based Targets for Nature and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure.
WSP’s Biodiversity Statement is available on WSP’s website at www.wsp.com
Supporting Nature Conservancy of Canada
Protecting biodiversity is a natural extension of WSP’s commitment to mitigate climate change. To advance this goal, WSP also announced today a donation of $700,000 to Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), the country's premier organization in delivering tangible and permanent nature conservation.
WSP’s donation will fund three NCC conservation initiatives over the next three years. These initiatives aim to:
- Address landscape degradation through habitat restoration using web-based, analytical tools that use spatial data to assist in decision-making;
- Support Indigenous-led conservation efforts, including Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, and Indigenous-led land trusts;
- Help Canada reach its conservation targets and support landscape conservation nationwide.
The contribution to NCC demonstrates WSP’s approach to giving back to our communities through the development of a more sustainable and equitable world. It is also aligned with WSP’s business strategy and purpose: We exist to future-proof our cities and environments.
“As Montreal is about to host COP15, the largest biodiversity summit in a generation, we want to demonstrate our leadership role in driving change and creating meaningful impact by helping to safeguard the environment,” added Alexandre L’Heureux.
“Change happens when we work together, across society, to achieve a nature-positive future. We applaud WSP for taking real action and investing in NCC’s work to accelerate the pace of conservation. Together we are helping nature to deliver the essential services that support life. That’s why conservation matters,” said Catherine Grenier, President and CEO of Nature Conservancy of Canada.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain information regarding WSP contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, strategic ambitions, objectives, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance, outlook or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking statements made by the Corporation in this press release include statements about WSP’s ability to implement the principles set forth in the Corporation’s Biodiversity statement, including its ability to engage with clients to protect, restore and enhance ecosystems; WSP’s ability to have a positive impact on nature; WSP’s ability to uphold the precautionary principle in its advice and designs, to assess its impacts and to set targets to address its impacts and report on them; and the initiatives funded by WSP’s donation to the NCC. These forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions believed by the Corporation to be reasonable as at November 28, 2022, including assumptions about our ability to implement the principles set forth in the Biodiversity Statement in our work, general economic and political conditions; the state of the global economy and the economies of the regions in which the Corporation operates; the state of and access to global and local capital and credit markets.
Although WSP believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and may be based on assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. WSP's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The complete version of the cautionary note regarding risk factors, which, if realized, could cause the Corporation's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements, are included in WSP's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2021, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and WSP does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless expressly required by applicable securities laws.
ABOUT THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF CANADA
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is the country's unifying force for nature. It seeks solutions to the twin crises of rapid biodiversity loss and climate change through large-scale, permanent land conservation. As a trusted partner, NCC works with people, communities, businesses, and the government to protect and care for our most important natural areas. Since 1962, it has brought Canadians together to conserve and restore more than 15 million hectares. NCC is a registered charity. To learn more, visit www.natureconservancy.ca
ABOUT WSP
As one of the world's leading professional services firms, WSP exists to future-proof our cities and our environment. It provides strategic advisory, engineering, and design services to clients in the transportation, infrastructure, environment, building, power, energy, water, mining, and resource sectors. Its 65,000 trusted professionals are united by the common purpose of creating positive, long-lasting impacts on the communities we serve through a culture of innovation, integrity, and inclusion. Sustainability and science permeate its work. WSP derived about half of its $10.3B (CAD) 2021 revenues from clean sources. Its shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: WSP). To find out more, please visit www.wsp.com
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Alain Michaud
Chief Financial Officer
WSP Global Inc.
Phone: 438-843-7317
alain.michaud@wsp.com
