Regulatory Barriers Slow Canada’s Move Toward Unified Sustainability Disclosure

Canada’s path toward mandatory sustainability reporting has hit a temporary standstill, but regulators insist the pause won’t last. Grant Vingoe, CEO of the Ontario Securities Commission, confirmed that the Canadian Securities Administrators still intend to bring back a climate-related disclosure mandate once current obstacles are resolved.

Regulators from across the country met last week to address the roadblocks preventing consistent, transparent sustainability reporting. Vingoe said senior Canadian issuers are quietly aligning with the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) despite fears of backlash from the U.S. market. While companies find the standards useful for deeper conversations with institutional investors, many are hesitant to publicize their efforts due to perceived U.S. regulatory risks.

The CSSB’s inaugural standards became official in early 2025, but their adoption remains voluntary. Integration has been slow, with uncertainty surrounding how the U.S. securities market views international sustainability requirements-particularly the IFRS system’s growing emphasis on climate disclosure.

CSSB Chair Wendy Berman emphasized that companies don’t need perfect reporting, only rigorous and consistent efforts. Meanwhile, Canada’s banking regulator, OSFI, is advancing its own push for climate transparency. Its recent emissions and exposure dataset aims to strengthen climate-risk management across financial institutions, contributing to a broader shift toward recognizing climate risks as financial risks.

Together, these efforts reflect growing momentum-yet Canada’s move toward uniform sustainability standards still hinges on regulatory alignment across North America.

Provincial-federal disclosure fragmentation is a real compliance cost for Canadian corporates - and lack of unified rules pushes companies to plan for the strictest common denominator anyway. Our ESG-strategy and sustainability-due-diligence teams help Canadian clients build disclosure infrastructure that works across provincial and federal frameworks and aligns with ISSB.