Climate change poses multiple risks for Canadians and for Canada’s economy. Beyond the immediate threats—more frequent and severe wildfires, floods and storms that endanger lives and property and can drive up home insurance costs—there are growing financial and operational pressures. Businesses now face more weather-related interruptions, from shipping delays to shortages of raw materials, and they also risk significant financial consequences if they delay the transition to net-zero emissions, as highlighted by recent analyses.
Those economic and financial risks matter to investors and savers. As the Bank of Canada notes, postponing action increases the exposure of the financial sector and the wider economy to climate-related harm. To give investors clearer insight into corporate climate commitments, a new assessment tool now evaluates how well major Canadian public companies are progressing toward net-zero targets.
Climate Engagement Canada introduces Net Zero Benchmark assessments
Several industry initiatives are improving corporate reporting on climate and other ESG (environmental, social and governance) matters so that individual and institutional investors can make better-informed decisions. Historically, ESG reporting has been inconsistent and often incomplete. As demand grows for comparable, rigorous data, new resources are appearing. One of the latest is the Net Zero Benchmark Company Assessments from Climate Engagement Canada (CEC).
CEC’s initiative includes 41 participants, ranging from public institutions such as Canada Post, Hydro-Québec and McGill University to financial firms like BMO Global Asset Management, AGF Investments and Vancity. The program focuses on publicly traded Canadian companies with the largest direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—sectors such as groceries, transportation and energy—and aims to evaluate each organization’s climate commitments and progress toward net-zero.
“The assessment helps investors identify concrete actions companies have taken so they can target engagement on specific climate issues,” says Tim Nash, founder of Good Investing, a Toronto-based firm that supports DIY sustainable investors with research and coaching. “When investors can say precisely what they expect, it becomes easier for companies to respond.”
Nash notes that many investors now demand clear climate strategies and leadership from Canadian corporations. A 2023 survey by the Responsible Investment Association found that 76% of surveyed Canadian institutional asset managers and asset owners ranked minimizing long-term investment risk among their top three reasons for choosing responsible investing, and 93% said a company’s GHG emissions influence their investment decisions.
What’s in the Net Zero assessments?
The CEC Net Zero assessments concentrate on the top reported or estimated GHG emitters listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Nash describes the benchmark as robust and comprehensive: it uses a set of ten indicators to measure companies’ ambitions, targets and policies related to decarbonization. In December, CEC published an explanation of those indicators and a colour-coded spreadsheet that ranks each company on each indicator as Yes (green), Partial (yellow) or No (red) for 2023.
Early results show a lot of partial progress and relatively few full marks. Most of the 41 companies have at least partially set medium-term GHG reduction targets, while only 15 have short-term targets—and even those are listed as partial. The indicators also check for a formal decarbonization strategy, a declared goal to reach net-zero by 2050, and whether a company’s climate advocacy aligns with the objectives of the Paris Agreement, among other criteria.
Which Canadian public companies have net zero ambitions and targets?
Below is an excerpt from the CEC Net Zero Assessment showing the first four indicators—net-zero ambition, long-term targets, medium-term targets and short-term targets—so you can see how the 41 companies performed in 2023. The full dataset is available from Climate Engagement Canada and can be downloaded for further analysis.
| wdt_ID | Company | GICS industry | Indicator 1: Net-zero ambitions | Indicator 2: Long-term targets | Indicator 3: Medium-term targets | Indicator 4: Short-term targets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Air Canada | Airlines | Yes | Partial | Partial | No |
| 2 | Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc | Food and staples retailing | No | No | No | No |
| 3 | AltaGas Ltd | Gas utilities | No | No | Partial | Partial |
| 4 | ARC Resources Ltd | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | No | No | No | Partial |
| 5 | Atco Ltd | Multi-utilities | Yes | Partial | Partial | No |
| 6 | B2Gold Corp | Metals and mining | No | No | Partial | No |
| 7 | Barrick Gold Corp | Metals and mining | Partial | Partial | Partial | No |
| 8 | Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP | Multi-utilities | Partial | Partial | No | No |
| 9 | Canadian National Railway Co | Road and rail | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 10 | Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd | Road and rail | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
| 11 | Capital Power Corp | Independent power and renewable electricity producers | No | Partial | Partial | No |
| 12 | Cenovus Energy Inc | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | Partial | Partial | Partial | No |
| 13 | Crescent Point Energy Corp | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | No | No | Partial | Partial |
| 14 | Emera Inc | Electric utilities | Partial | Partial | No | Partial |
| 15 | Empire Company Ltd | Food and staples retailing | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 16 | Enbridge | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | Partial | Partial | Partial | No |
| 17 | Enerplus Corp | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | No | No | Partial | No |
| 18 | First Quantum Minerals Ltd | Metals and mining | No | No | Partial | Partial |
| 19 | Fortis Inc | Electric utilities | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| 20 | GFL Environmental Inc | Commercial services and supplies | No | No | Yes | No |
| 21 | Hudbay Minerals Inc | Metals and mining | Partial | Partial | Partial | No |
| 22 | Keyera Corp | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | No | No | Partial | Partial |
| 23 | Kinross Gold Corp | Metals and mining | Partial | Partial | Partial | No |
| 24 | Loblaw Companies Ltd | Food and staples retailing | Partial | Partial | Partial | No |
| 25 | Lundin Mining Corp | Metals and mining | No | No | Partial | No |
| 26 | Magna International Inc | Auto components | No | No | Partial | Partial |
| 27 | MEG Energy Corp | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | Partial | Partial | Partial | No |
| 28 | Methanex Corp | Chemicals | No | No | Partial | No |
| 29 | Metro Inc | Food and staples retailing | No | No | Partial | No |
| 30 | Nutrien Ltd | Chemicals | No | No | Partial | Partial |
| 31 | Pembina Pipeline Corp | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | No | No | Partial | No |
| 32 | Saputo Inc | Food products | No | No | No | Partial |
| 33 | Stelco Holdings Inc | Metals and mining | No | No | No | No |
| 34 | Superior Plus Corp | Gas utilities | No | No | No | No |
| 35 | TC Energy | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| 36 | Tourmaline Oil Corp | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | No | No | Partial | Partial |
| 37 | TransAlta Corp | Independent power and renewable electricity producers | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| 38 | Vermilion Energy Inc | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | Partial | Partial | No | Partial |
| 39 | Waste Connections Inc | Commercial services and supplies | No | No | Partial | No |
| 40 | West Fraser Timber Co Ltd | Paper and forest products | No | No | Yes | No |
| 41 | Whitecap Resources Inc | Oil, gas and consumable fuels | No | No | No | Partial |
A movement toward investment stewardship
CEC’s Net Zero Benchmark is part of a broader stewardship movement in which shareholders actively engage with companies to encourage faster decarbonization, better disclosure and stronger climate governance. Sean Cleary, chair of the Institute for Sustainable Finance, describes stewardship as shareholder action that pushes large emitters to “move faster, innovate more, and disclose better.”
On the global stage, initiatives like Climate Action 100+ have tracked progress by major corporate emitters since 2019, applying peer pressure to encourage improvements. Nash says the same logic applies in Canada: reducing corporate carbon risk is ultimately a benefit for investors.
For investors wondering how to act, Nash recommends prioritizing engagement: if you hold shares directly or via funds, let companies and fund managers know that a company’s climate choices affect your investment decisions. If your shares are pooled in an ETF, mutual fund or pension, review proxy voting policies to ensure your voting power is being used to support robust climate action consistent with the CEC assessment.
“If this list shifts toward more yellow and green in the next decade, it will signal that Canada’s publicly traded companies are taking a leadership role in the net-zero transition,” Nash says. He also emphasizes that this first assessment will become a reference point for measuring progress over the coming years.
• Read more about the CEC Net Zero Benchmark Company Assessments
• Download the benchmark
• Download the assessments
More about sustainable investing:
- Why sustainable investing is important
- An investor’s guide to ESG reporting in Canada
- Responsible investing is growing in Canada. Which ESG factors matter most?
- 5 ways to invest sustainably for Canadian investors
- Greener days ahead: There’s a new global standard for climate-related disclosures