On October 7, 2024, the PRI facilitated a conversation under Chatham House rule between Canadian policy makers, regulators and standard setters, international and domestic investors and representatives of Indigenous perspectives to explore the adoption of standardised corporate sustainability disclosures. Below are key conclusions of the exchange:
- Extraterritorial regulation such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will inevitably drive global reporting expectations for issuers.
- Canada’s economy cannot afford to have its corporate reporting landscape stagnate as other countries continue to improve. Canada’s economic position is not unique. While the fear of losing market actors to other jurisdictions has created inertia, we must move faster. Work is underway by many Canadian regulatory authorities, and investors expect that Canada will work towards full adoption of national standards that reflect the ISSB global baseline.
- In the absence of mandatory issuer disclosures, investors incur significant costs to research, access, evaluate and estimate missing or incomplete sustainability data on investment-relevant issues to get a more realistic picture of risks and opportunities. Investors are expected to make the use case to issuers and regulators on why this information is important to making investment decisions in the best interest of their clients and beneficiaries.
- Additional resources are required to establish meaningful engagement with Indigenous peoples to inform the development and implementation of corporate sustainability disclosures in Canada.
Download the briefing note in full below:
