Environmental, social and governance (ESG)

Meet your stakeholders’ rising sustainability expectations

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2024 Canadian ESG Reporting Insights

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Companies are under pressure to transform how they address the sustainability risks and opportunities facing their business. And the stakes are rising: organizations that fall behind face the prospect of reputational damage, higher costs and losing market share and talent.

Different companies are at different stages of their own industry-specific sustainability journey. Regardless of your starting point, integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures into your corporate strategy, financial reporting and functional operations strengthens your ability to compete today and remain viable tomorrow.

Physical risks such as rising sea levels and increasingly frequent droughts, fires and floods can affect your supply chain, assets and operations. At the same time, new climate regulations, investor requirements and customer demands create transition risks as we move to a lower-carbon economy that increasingly puts a price on emissions—forcing companies with higher emissions to incur higher operating costs.

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Consumers, business customers and employees want to engage companies that share their values. And they’re prepared to walk away from organizations that fall short of their expectations. Investors, meanwhile, want companies to prioritize sustainability, but often don’t trust the ESG reporting they see.

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Regulators in Canada, the US and Europe expect organizations to produce sustainability disclosures in line with globally recognized standards. Companies must soon report ESG data that’s of the same quality as their financial information and is independently assured.

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ESG is about more than managing risks

The underlying premise of ESG is that companies with a strong sustainability performance are more resilient and achieve better financial results.

Companies create value through ESG by developing a targeted sustainability strategy that focuses on what really matters—not just to stakeholders, but also what’s material to the health of the business. Leading companies assign responsibilities to meet sustainability goals appropriately across the organization, and use technology to drive it throughout their operations. They also disclose their commitments and achievements in investor-grade reporting and ongoing stakeholder communications. Collectively, these competitive advantages help organizations deliver sustained outcomes that build greater trust for generations to come.

These businesses differentiate their brand, which helps attract and retain both customers and employees. They also lower their cost of capital, strengthen their social licence to operate and create more resilient value chains.

“How well you integrate sustainability and ESG throughout your business will determine your future.”

Shelley Gilberg, National Platforms Leader and ESG Strategy, PwC Canada