Canada’s Securities Administrators (CSA) announced that they are pushing pause on developing key sustainability reporting initiatives that would have made climate-related disclosure mandatory and strengthened diversity disclosure requirements.
CSA, the council of the securities regulators of Canada’s provinces and territories, is the body that coordinates regulation for Canadian capital markets. This move follows several others in Canada and elsewhere, such as the European Union’s Omnibus regulation, that have either slowed or backpedaled on climate regulation following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration’s assault on sustainability and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) measures.
In February, Canada’s financial regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), announced a significant delay to the requirement for firms to disclose the emissions originating in their loans and underwriting activities. The requirement for those disclosures had been set to begin next year. In March the Prime Minister Carney eliminated the consumer carbon tax.
“In recent months, the global economic and geopolitical landscape has rapidly and significantly changed, resulting in increased uncertainty and rising competitiveness concerns for Canadian issuers,” said Stan Magidson, Chair of the CSA and Chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission. “In response, the CSA is focusing on initiatives to make Canadian markets more competitive, efficient and resilient.”
The agency said it will continue to monitor disclosure practices of issuers and work to address any misleading disclosure, which can include greenwashing, and will provide information and additional guidance as appropriate. It also said voluntary non-venture issuers will continue to be required to provide disclosure regarding the representation of women on their boards and in executive officer positions based on existing requirements. under National Instrument 58-101 Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices.
The group said it will monitor domestic and international regulatory developments with respect to climate-related and diversity-related disclosures and expects to revisit both projects in future years to finalize requirements for issuers.
