Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards (CSDS)
The first two CSDS exposure drafts were issued for comment by the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) on March 13, 2024. The CSDS are based on the IFRS Sustainability Standards (refer above) with amendments considered appropriate for the Canadian context:
- CSDS 1: General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information
- CSDS 2: Climate-related Disclosures
Also issued for comment was the Criteria for Modification Consultation Paper.
Who's impacted?
The CSSB is a standard setting organization and does not have the authority to mandate disclosure requirements. It is the role of regulators, such as the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Office of Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) in Canada to mandate reporting in accordance with specific standards.
Refer to our Sustainability Reporting Regulation page for the latest information on Canadian regulatory requirements.
What's the latest?
The CSDS exposure drafts were issued on March 13, 2024, for comment. The comment period closed on June 10, 2024.
The CSSB expects to finalize the standards by the end of 2024.
What do Canadian CPAs need to know?
The CSDS are not yet mandatory in Canada, however the CSA has announced that, once the consultation on the CSDS is complete and they are finalized, the CSA anticipates that they will seek comment on a revised rule to NI 51-107 – Disclosure of Climate-related Matters. The CSA also stated that they may consider additional modifications considered appropriate for Canadian capital markets.
Additionally, the Office of Superintendent of Financial Institutions has signaled its intent to align its climate regulation, B-15, to the IFRS Sustainability Standards back in June 2023. We expect OSFI to take steps to revisit B-15 once the CSDS are final.
OSFI announced on March 20, 2024 updates to its climate regulation, Guideline B-15 to align the disclosure expectations in the Guideline’s Annex 2-2, Minimum mandatory climate-related financial disclosure expectations to the IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosure requirements.
Where can I learn more?
For more information, please refer to our CSDS Summary and our FAQs.
You can also refer to the CSSB website for: