[Join me at TSSS on Feb 5th as we delve into the disconnect between CSR Reporting and Bay/Wall St. – why does it exist and what can we do about it. Click here for details: Bay/Wall Street and Sustainability: Does your CSR Report Resonate with Investors?]
Sustainability reporting in Canada today presents a dilemma. On the one hand, a 2014 study of Canadian reporters by Stakeholder Research Associates Canada (SRA) suggests that a mere 42% of Canadian companies listed on the TSX Composite disclose meaningfully ESG information. SRA’s research also found that among 100 reporting companies across various sectors and geographic regions in Canada, only 20% communicated a long-term strategy informed by targets and goals and only 38% identified their material issues.
To rebuild trust, investors and the public need comparable data on how financial institutions are managing environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Enter 
US founding father Benjamin Franklin once observed: “I believe that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things.”
