More companies are reporting emissions even as actual reductions lag: report

TORONTO – A new report shows Canadian companies are slowly improving their reporting on carbon emissions and other key climate change data, but that progress remains uneven and needed emissions reductions aren’t happening.

The study from the Institute for Sustainable Finance at Queen’s University’s Smith School of Business found that 79 per cent of firms on the S&P TSX Composite Index reported emissions from their own operations in 2023, up from 72 per cent in 2021.

But looking at the data on a market capitalization basis shows a decline to 88 per cent from 91 per cent over the same period because several energy producers removed sustainability disclosures after the federal government passed anti-greenwashing rules last year.

Disclosures of less direct emissions, such as from the burnin