Canada’s capital markets regulator has halted work on the development of a new a new mandatory climate-related disclosure rule in order to support Canadian markets as they adapt to political developments in the US.

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), an organisation representing securities regulators in Canada, said that climate-related risks are a mainstream business issue and securities legislation already requires issuers to disclose material climate-related risks affecting their business.

“In recent months, the global economic and geopolitical landscape has rapidly and significantly changed, resulting in increased uncertainty and rising competitiveness concerns for Canadian issuers,” said Stan Magidson, chair of the CSA and chair and chief executive of the Alberta Securities Commission. “In response, the CSA is focusing on initiatives to make Canadian markets more competitive, efficient and resilient.”

The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) issued their inaugural sustainability standards in December 2024, which the CSA said are mostly aligned with the standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board.

The CSA claims the CSSB standards provide a useful voluntary disclosure framework for sustainability and climate-related disclosure, encouraging issuers to refer to them when preparing their disclosures.

Additionally, the CSA said it has also suspended amendments to the existing diversity-related disclosure requirements.

Non-venture issuers will continue to be required to provide disclosures regarding the representation of women on their boards and in executive officer positions based on the existing requirements.

The CSA said it will monitor domestic and international regulatory developments with respect to climate-related and diversity-related disclosures, with the organisation expecting to revisit both projects in the future.

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