Montréal, 14 October 2025 — In an economic climate where companies face multiple pressures—economic tariffs, international competition, energy transition, and heightened social expectations—the Canada Climate Law Initiative (CCLI) published a report entitled Duty of vigilance in 2025: Pathways for Québec.

This report addresses a key question: how can we encourage companies to better prevent social, environmental, and climate risks while ensuring their competitiveness and sustainability? Inspired by the French and European duty of vigilance model, this exploratory work examines the conditions and opportunities for an approach adapted to Québec’s legal, economic, and cultural context in order to better regulate the activities of large companies and multinationals, particularly in terms of climate, environmental, and social impacts.

The duty of vigilance, already in force in France and incorporated into the recent European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), aims to encourage large companies to adopt a proactive approach to their supply chains and partners in order to avoid human rights and environmental violations.

“In a context of climate change and the weakening of social systems around the world, it seems crucial to identify new ways of regulating economic actors and limiting their multiple impacts, both locally and internationally,” says Alice Chipot, author of the report, researcher, and RRSE collaborator. “In Europe, new tools have been developed in recent years to ensure greater accountability and responsibility among large companies and financial actors. Changing the behaviour and practices of corporate citizens will also require more restrictive frameworks, greater transparency in practices, and better access to justice.”

The report proposes concrete avenues for change:

• Promote corporate transparency, improve practices, and continuously change behaviours (map the value chain, identify, prevent, and mitigate ESG risks).
• Facilitate access to justice and promote the establishment of a more protective regime for victims of abuse abroad (or corporate social responsibility failures).
• Explore public transparency regarding out-of-court settlements.

“CCLI’s report is an important piece of work in the uncertain context we are facing. It provides food for thought to propose an innovative legislative framework in North America that could make Québec a leader in the fields of sustainable finance and responsible business,” emphasizes Ivan Tchotourian, Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Laval, Director of the Institute of Applied Ethics and an Affiliated Research Scholar at CCLI. “In addition to not breaking with many companies’ practices or with current debates in Québec, the report demonstrates that Québec has a solid foundation for evolving its law. It pertinently proposes various avenues for strengthening the legal framework, better protecting victims and providing businesses with an environment conducive to responsible behaviour. Let’s hope that the province will take up this report to extend and intensify the discussions that have been launched!”

The report concludes that Québec, given its mixed legal system and culture of consultation, provides fertile ground for testing pragmatic and gradual approaches of the duty of vigilance. It represents a first step toward broader collective reflection on ways to ensure proactive corporate responsibility, consistent with Canada’s international commitments and the growing expectations of citizens, investors, and communities.

To download the report (in French): https://ccli.ubc.ca/resource/duty-of-vigilance-in-2025-pathways-for-quebec/

Media contact: ccli-info@allard.ubc.ca

About the Canada Climate Law Initiative

The Canada Climate Law Initiative (CCLI) provides businesses and regulators with climate governance guidance so they can make informed decisions toward a net-zero economy. Powered by the nation’s top expertise, we engage with boards of directors and trustees to ensure businesses understand their legal duties with respect to climate change. Our legal research allows us to stay one step ahead in a rapidly transforming policy landscape.

CCLI is supported financially by family foundations, and is led by Professors of Law at the University of British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law and Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.