News

A Pivotal Moment to Tackle Some of Society’s Biggest Challenges

Guest post by John McCalla-Leacy, Head of Global ESG at KPMG

The news agenda is filled with discussions about the climate crisis and the business world’s response to ESG challenges. We hear leaders – from the political and business worlds – full of great intentions. However, transforming enthusiasm into impactful action is often the biggest blocker to much needed change.

A climate standard will play a major role in the ISSB’s announcements this week and rightly so, but it’s reassuring to see that the ‘S’ in ESG has also played its part in motivating the organization’s strategy.

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Ten things to know about the first ISSB Standards

Better information leads to better economic decisions. IFRS S1 requires companies to communicate the sustainability-risks and opportunities they face over the short, medium, and long term. The requirements are designed to ensure that companies provide investors information relevant to decision-making. IFRS S2 sets out specific climate-related disclosures and is designed to be used with IFRS S1. Both Standards are based on recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Issuing these Standards is just the starting point. The ISSB is consulting on future priorities to help determine what comes next. We welcome your feedback before the consultation closes on 1 September 2023.

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This Reuters newsletter has some seriously thought-provoking developments encouraging us to take stock of where we are in the fight against global warming. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that global temperatures have a 66% chance of temporarily reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2027, which means the world has failed to make sufficient progress on slashing climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

“There must be urgency in our action. The global climate crisis is more evident by the day, and today’s actions are crucial. Carbon must become a priority, equal to money in all future decision-making.”

Read the full report here.

Montreal, April 18, 2023 – BDC today announces the creation of its new $150-million Sustainability Venture Fund dedicated to investing in businesses developing technologies that will support Canada and the world to meet sustainability and climate targets.

The Fund is a key component of BDC’s commitment to sustainability and part of its contribution to help advance Canada’s 2050 net-zero ambition. It will invest in technologies in line with four key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) leveraging Canada’s strengths and areas of opportunity: sustainable communities and cities, responsible production and consumption, climate action as well as clean and affordable energy.

“Innovation is imperative to speed the transition to net-zero, as much as it can spur the growth of our economy. With the new fund, we have an immense opportunity to ensure that Canadian start-ups have access to the capital they need to compete and drive meaningful impact to Canada’s journey to reach net-zero and meet its sustainability targets.” ~ Isabelle Hudon, President and CEO of BDC

Read the full article here.

A liveable future for all is possible, if we take urgent climate action: flagship UN report.

A major UN “report of reports” from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), outlines the many options that can be taken now, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change.

The study, “Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report”, released on Monday following a week-long IPCC session in Interlaken, brings into sharp focus the losses and damages experienced now, and expected to continue into the future, which are hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems especially hard

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UN Photo / Mark Garten

OSFI Announcement

Canada’s financial regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), announced the release of its new guidelines on climate risk management, setting out requirements for banks and insurance companies to manage and disclose climate-related risks.

The new climate-related reporting requirements for Canadian financial institutions cover disclosure categories including governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics & targets. They also include reporting of Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, including financed, facilitated and insured emissions, as well as the targets used to manage climate-related risks and opportunities, and public commitments made as part of a Net Zero alliance, such as the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), or the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA).

Read the full article here.