Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, last week at the PRI In-Person conference in Toronto announced:

• A plan to advance a “Made-in-Canada” sustainable investment taxonomy (backgrounder); and
• Mandatory climate-related financial disclosures for large, federally-incorporated private companies.

The Canada Climate Law Initiative welcomes the Government of Canada’s announcement to advance a sustainable finance taxonomy and the intention of amending the Canadian Business Corporation Act to accelerate progress to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Over the past few years, the Canada Climate Law Initiative supported the Sustainable Finance Action Council to develop a long-term governance structure and best practices in developing a green and transition finance taxonomy. We believe our work contributed to this announcement.

Capitalizing on clarity: The Canadian taxonomy in action

Immediately following the announcement, we co-hosted an event with the Institute of Sustainable Finance to delve into practical implementation of the taxonomy in Canada, governance considerations, and lessons from the international community.

The expert panel included some of the leading figures in taxonomy development in Canada and around the world:

• Barbara Zvan, President and CEO, University Pension Plan Ontario
• Nicole Yazbek Martin, Head of Taxonomy and Natural capital, Australian Sustainable Finance Institute
• Andrea Moffat, Senior Director, Sustainable Investing, Addenda Capital
• Jonathan Arnold, Acting Director, Clean Growth, Canadian Climate Institute
• Moderator: Catherine McCall, CEO, Canadian Coalition for Good Governance

Watch the recording:

The panelists expressed their joy about the announcement, after working towards this outcome for many years. “It’s probably my most fulfilling day in politics thus far,” said MP Ryan Turnbull.

The Government of Canada’s announcement is important to the nation’s ability to meet its goal of net-zero carbon emissions and our commitments under the Paris Agreement.

“Mobilizing capital was the key purpose that we were seeking to achieve,” said Nicole Yazbek Martin of Australia’s taxonomy. A key question for Australia and Canada includes, “how do we design something that can actually channel capital towards activities that will decarbonize the economy?”

“Hearing that it’s science-aligned and hearing that it’s third-party arms-length governance with funding and a 12-month timeline to get things out, all great things because we need to keep the momentum going,” commented Barbara Zvan.

The Canada Climate Law Initiative is pleased to see the federal government’s commitment to amend the Canadian Business Corporation Act to require climate-related financial disclosures for federally-regulated large private companies. This amendment will support the whole economy approach a clean energy transition.

A green and transition finance taxonomy and mandatory climate-related disclosures are two key pillars in building a financial system that is resilient to climate risks and opportunities and globally competitive.

The Canada Climate Law Initiative is committed to continuing to work with policymakers to advance these two sustainable finance initiatives and ensure implementation.

“Now that we’ve got the announcement, the work begins,” said Andrea Moffat during the event on October 9^th.