Below is an excerpt from ISS Corporate Solutions’ recently released paper “ESG Disclosure Trends in Canada: Climate Reporting Leads the Way.” The full paper is available for download from the ISS Corporate Solutions (ICS) online library.
Summary:
Demand for improved sustainability-related disclosures continues to increase, as regulators tighten rules across the world. ISS Corporate Solutions (ICS) reviewed and analyzed ISS Environmental & Social QualityScore data covering companies in Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index to identify the most notable environmental and social disclosure improvements in Canada for 2022 and compare disclosures from the end of last year with the end of 2021. The analysis shows that Canadian issuers paid equal attention to both sides of sustainability, with environmental disclosures representing 54 percent of the improvements and social issues counting for 46 percent.
Carbon and climate disclosures showed the most improvement among the Canadian firms, with 58 percent of environmental disclosure improvements belonging to this category. Disclosures pertaining to waste and toxicity was a distant second, representing approximately 27 percent of environmental disclosure improvements.
Key Takeaways:
- Climate change has been a top priority for Canadian organizations over the past year, with the majority of improvements in corporate disclosures relating to carbon and climate issues.
- The most significant improvements focused on understanding and preparing for climate risks and opportunities, in alignment with Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.
- Disclosures relating to human capital management and stakeholders and society have been driving social disclosure progress among Canadian corporate issuers.
- Monitoring employee satisfaction and engagement has been the greatest area of improvement among social disclosures.
By: Caterina Tantalo, Sustainability Advisory, ISS Corporate Solutions
