Climate Change hits Financial Disclosures

The focus on climate-related issues in Canada and internationally has grown rapidly in recent years with climate-related risks having become a mainstream business issue. In the fall of 2021, the Canadian Securities Administrators (the “CSA”) issued a request for comments on the proposed National Instrument 51-107: Disclosure of Climate-related Matters (NI 51-107).

NI 51-107 expands the mandatory disclosure of climate-related risks by specifying certain information that must be disclosed by reporting issuers in their annual filings. It would apply to all public companies, with a few exceptions. Those subject to the proposed rules would be required to disclose information related to governance, risk management, strategy, and metrics and targets.

The changes respond to requests to standardize climate-related disclosure. These proposed changes largely adopt the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), with a couple of notable differences. The proposed rules are not expected to take effect before December of 2022.

Questions about NI 51-107 and how it will affect your company? Contact Richard Bereti at rbereti@harpergrey.com, Nicola Virk or anyone else from our team listed on the Authors page.