2Sustain

PricewaterhouseCoopers recently released new research that focuses on corporate sustainability reporting in Canada. The report analyzes data collected from a survey of 343 senior financial executives, and it offers insights about the benefits of corporate sustainability reporting, the impact of corporate sustainability reporting on investors., and the influence of Canadian capital markets on corporate sustainability reporting.

Here are a few highlights from the 39-page report, titled “Corporate Sustainability Reporting in Canada”:

• 90% of Canadian senior financial executives consider reporting on the environmental and social impacts of their companies to be important,

• and 72% of survey respondents said that their company understood which sustainability issues were most relevant to achieving business goals;

• However, only half said their companies had an effective strategy in place for managing these issues.

• 92% of the senior financial executives polled agreed that it is important to communicate sustainability performance to senior management and the Board;

• But again, more than half admitted that they did not have an effective system in place for measuring sustainability performance.

• Nearly 75% of survey respondents believe that legislation regarding reporting and disclosure of sustainability performance will become more stringent over the next five years.

The report concludes that while Canadian CFOs believe their companies should be measuring environmental impact, the internal processes needed to do so are lacking.  For instance, there’s no general framework (nor the technology) in place for measuring and reporting sustainability efforts. As a result, it’s often difficult for CFOs to achieve cost/benefit numbers to adequately support green initiatives.

Certainly, legislation would help turn the tide toward more corporate sustainability reporting. But even without legislation, Canadian companies are beginning to tweak their business models. Specifically, the PwC research shows that capital market agents are having an impact as the contiue to ask for greater environmental and social disclosure. Ultimately, the CFOs in the survey agree that the establishment of a standardized reporting framework developed around industry-specific key performance indicators will help the development of corporate responsibility reporting in Canada.

To learn more about Candian perspectives on corporate sustainability reporting, check out the full report, available here.