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John Cameron: Hello, everyone. Welcome. Thank you for coming.
We’ll begin shortly—probably a minute or so after the hour to let the folks who have registered continue to filter in.
Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining. We’re just going to let folks come into the webinar over the next minute or so, and we’ll get started shortly.
Some instructions on the slide and in the chat if you need translation.
All right, folks. Thanks for joining, again. Instructions on the slide and in the chat if you need translation. We are going to get started.
So welcome, everyone, to the webinar on the CSSB’s first strategic plan. I’m looking forward to sharing more about this plan and to answering some of your questions.
We’ll be recording today’s session, and we’ll make it available on our site for future reference afterwards.
My name is John. I’m a Principal with the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board, or the CSSB, as I’ve noted. The CSSB is housed under Financial Reporting and Assurance Standards Canada, which is the organization that houses all four reporting and assurance standards boards in Canada. So that’s why you see the FRAS logo on your slides.
First, I’d like to start by acknowledging that I’m presenting this webinar from Toronto, which is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.
Toronto is covered by Treaty 13, signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties, signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to live and work on this land with my family and hope to teach my two young daughters about the deep history of the many Indigenous peoples who have worked and lived on this land for time immemorial.
Now I’ll proceed to the agenda.
So, for today’s agenda, I’ll first give you some background on the CSSB. Then I’ll talk a bit about some specific items within our proposed strategic plan before spending some time answering your questions.
Now, today, I am joined by some of my colleagues, who are listening in and stand ready to assist me by monitoring the chat. So if you do have a question, please feel free to put it in the chat, and we’ll get to what we can at the end of the presentation.
I’ll also welcome participants to unmute and ask questions directly at the end of the session. Or you can keep it in the chat if you would like as well.
So, as noted, we’ll start with some context-setting to ensure everyone is on the same page.
The CSSB was established in 2023. Its mandate is to serve the public interest by setting and maintaining high-quality sustainability disclosure standards for Canadian entities and by contributing to the development of international sustainability disclosure standards.
The CSSB currently has 11 members drawn from different industries and provinces with diverse backgrounds. This helps ensure that our work and membership reflect the diversity of those impacted by and utilizing our work and standards.
This slide shows the relationship between the International Sustainability Standards Board, or ISSB, the CSSB, and regulators and legislators.
First, the ISSB was formed by the IFRS Foundation at the 2021 COP26 in Glasgow and provides a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability disclosure standards. The ISSB has international support with its work to develop sustainability disclosure standards, and it is backed by the G7, the G20, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, or IOSCO, and others, including central bank governors for more than 40 jurisdictions.
As of December 2024, 35 jurisdictions have already decided to use or are taking steps to introduce ISSB standards in their legal or regulatory frameworks. Collectively, these 35 jurisdictions account for around 60% of global GDP, more than 40% of global market capitalization, and around 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
This is a notable achievement for advancing a global baseline of sustainability disclosure. This baseline was first put forth in 2023 with the ISSB releasing two standards: IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures.
Notably, the ISSB is planning on developing additional standards. It has announced research projects to consider new standards in two areas:
Biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services, which is exploring how companies can disclose information related to the interconnected nature of their businesses—biodiversity and ecosystems.
The other area is human capital. Research here is investigating what information is necessary to be disclosed regarding workforce-related issues.
The CSSB is using the international standards as a starting point and as a baseline.
Baseline standards are simply a foundation to create our own standards.
Modifications to the international baseline are made in line with the CSSB’s criteria for modification framework, which considers the Canadian public interest. This framework can be found on our website for your reference.
As noted on the slide, the CSSB used IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 as a foundation to create its own CSDS 1 and CSDS 2, which were finalized and released in December of 2024.
Note: CSDS, which I’ll use throughout the presentation, stands for Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards. And IFRS simply refers to the IFRS Foundation, or the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, which houses the ISSB, as I previously noted.
Second, the CSSB is an independent entity distinct from other standard-setting bodies and regulatory bodies. The CSSB assesses the applicability and fitness for purpose of international standards for the Canadian context. As such, the role of the CSSB is complementary to and not duplicative of the roles of governments and regulators.
Finally, regulators and legislators include, for example, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Provincial Securities Commissions, or the CSA. These entities have the authority to mandate the standards set by the CSSB once they’re issued.
Significantly, all three of the parties noted here must conduct their own consultations on any proposed standards of rules.
I hope this context helped frame today’s session.
So, the first items we’ll talk about that are within the proposed strategic plan are the CSSB’s proposed mission, vision, and values.
The at-a-glance slide I previously showed noted the CSSB’s mandate, which is the mission statement in the plan captured here.
The CSSB’s vision is to be the trusted voice on sustainability disclosure standards in Canada, reflected in the broad adoption of our sustainability disclosure standards.
The CSSB’s mission, as shown here, will help it advance the fulfillment of its vision over the next several years.
The CSSB’s values are:
Integrity and Trustworthiness: We will carry out our mission with courage and humility, be competent and accountable.
Respect: We will listen attentively, be open-minded and well-informed, considerate, and constructive. We will maintain confidentiality, be empathetic, and seek to understand other perspectives.
Inclusivity: We will proactively engage with diverse perspectives, communicate in an accessible manner, and constructively challenge what we know.
Collaboration: We will challenge one another; be candid, flexible, and vulnerable; build capacity and engagement with interested and affected parties; hold space for others; and be clear on objectives and measure outcomes.
Reciprocity. We will foster a culture of mutual respect, inform and maintain long-term relationships with mutual benefits.
These slides have shown you some of the foundational elements that will inform the CSSB’s work over the next several years.
The CSSB spent a significant amount of time considering its mission, vision, and values to ensure they were thoughtful and appropriate. As a young organization, the proposed strategic plan is the first opportunity to see opportunity the CSSB has had to get your feedback on these items. And I encourage you to consider sharing your thoughts. I’ll talk more about opportunities to contribute to the CSSB’s work, later in the presentation.
Also foundational to the board’s work is the board’s commitment to Indigenous peoples, which is shown on this slide, and which was initially released alongside the CSSB’s proposed CSDS 1 and CSDS 2 standards in the spring of 2024.
The rights of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit peoples are inherent and specific in Canada.
All interested and affected parties are impacted when Indigenous people’s rights are not respected.
The CSSB is dedicated to upholding the rights of Indigenous peoples and ensuring their meaningful participation in shaping sustainability disclosure standards in Canada.
In the global context, these rights are affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, 2007. In the Canadian context, these rights are recognized in Section 35 of the Constitution and in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act of 2021.
In collaboration with Indigenous peoples, the board is committed to exploring how best to address these rights in the context of CSDSs and in sustainability standard-setting in general.
The CSSB recognizes that advancing reconciliation with First Nation, Métis, and Inuit peoples in Canada is fundamental to the work of Canadian standard-setting for sustainability-related financial disclosures.
This commitment is underpinned by a series of guiding principles and values outlined in the proposed strategic plan. This proposed strategic plan also contains a strategic priority for Indigenous peoples that advances this important work, which I’ll talk about shortly.
We’ll now walk through the strategic criteria. These criteria will be used in assessing the relevance and appropriateness of future strategic priorities, including the five strategic priorities found in this plan.
The CSSB’s criteria for evaluating its strategic priorities fall under two themes: Prevalence and Impacts.
Under the Prevalence category, the CSSB takes into consideration two items:
Alignment with national and international standards and priorities that further the CSSB’s mission, vision, and objectives, and also, Canadian-specific topics that serve the public interest by improving sustainability disclosure practices.
Under the Impacts category, the CSSB takes into consideration five items:
How urgent the matter is likely to be for entities and for the Canadian public interest;
Relevance of sustainability disclosure information to interested and affected parties;
How the matter addresses or responds to regulatory, legal, or policy-related risks and developments related to advancing high-quality sustainability disclosure;
Also considers interoperability with other national and international standards and boards;
How addressing the matter will advance the CSSB’s mission and vision over the short, medium, and long term.
The CSSB evaluates potential strategic priorities against these criteria, which also considers the broader context … while also considering the broader context of its operating environment and the trade-offs involved with adding priorities to address in its work plan. The trade-offs include a consideration of the CSSB’s resources, the priority’s connection with other standards and frameworks, how the priority reflects the views of the CSSB’s interest in infected parties, and how the priority serves the Canadian public interest.
So next, I’ll talk about the broad objectives the CSSB is seeking to advance.
The CSSB’s objectives are:
To set and maintain CSDSs that address the sustainability information needs of capital markets and to improve the reporting of sustainability information by Canadian entities with due consideration for the cost and benefits to the preparers and users of this sustainability information;
To participate with other standard-setters in the development of global best practices and setting sustainability disclosure standards, which are adopted or separately developed by the CSSB to reflect the Canadian context; and
To support the implementation of its sustainability disclosure standards.
This slide notes some contextual items that the CSSB took into consideration while developing its strategic plan. I won’t read through all of this. However, I will welcome any questions shortly. Importantly, this plan was developed alongside the CSSB’s deliberation on the final CSDS that we released again in December of 2024. So, the feedback received on the proposed standards informed this proposed plan.
Next, I’ll walk through the five proposed strategic priorities.
All the items I just went through—the criteria, the CSSB’s objectives, and the context items on this slide before—were considered as the board debated what priorities to focus on for the next few years.
These priorities also feature a set of objectives the board will seek to achieve or advance for that priority during the plan.
The priorities are:
Priority A, establishing the CSSB as the source of Canadian reference standards for high-quality sustainability disclosures. The objectives for this priority focus on advancing the CSDS within Canada, furthering voluntary adoption and take-up of the first two standards, and increasing connectivity with our sister boards at Financial Reporting and Assurance Standards Canada—that would be the accounting audit and public sector.
Priority B is advancing the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in sustainability standard-setting. The objectives for this priority focus on enhancing our outreach and engagement with Indigenous peoples, creating new pathways for Indigenous peoples to participate in our standard-setting, and championing the inclusion of Indigenous rights and interests in Canadian sustainability disclosure standards. This priority builds on and seeks to advance the CSSB’s commitment that I noted earlier.
Priority C is contributing to the development of international sustainability disclosure standards. The objectives for this priority involve the CSSB’s contribution to the work of international standard-setters such as the ISSB. Specifically, the CSSB is seeking to continue its leadership role at the international level through contributions to the areas of the ISSB’s work with the greatest impact on the Canadian public interest and by advocating for the inclusion of Indigenous voices and matters at the international level.
Priority D is determining where the CSSB may contribute by developing additional sustainability standards and/or guidance. The objectives for this priority focus on determining the CSSB’s role in creating standards or guidance for specific entities—i.e., public sector or small to medium-sized businesses—and considering the CSSB’s role in providing guidance more broadly.
Lastly, priority E is advancing communications and outreach strategy to support achieving our mission. The objectives for this priority relate to enhancing transparency in our decision-making, considering post-implementation review of our standards, and enhancing engagement with Canada’s Francophone community in our work.
So, next. Before inviting your questions and your feedback, I want to note our timeline. The proposed plan is open for comment until April 7th. Following that, the CSSB will spend several months analyzing, considering, and deliberating on the feedback we receive. We’ll also publish the feedback from those who allow us to publicize it, and we’ll release a feedback statement to summarize the responses received. The plan will be finalized towards the end of 2025 and will be effective upon publication.
Now, finally, before going to questions… I’ve concluded the presentation rather early, so there’s a chance we might not be here for the whole time. But I appreciate everyone, the willingness to join.
This slide illustrates how you can provide feedback on the plan. The QR codes you see here are links to fill out our survey and read the plan. The comment period, again, closes April 7th. And we’ll turn it over to questions.
That said, I’m going to leave the slide here for the time being so that you can access the survey if you would like. Within that, you can also access the plan. But I’m going to start by taking questions from the chat if there are any. Apologies while I bring that up. But feel free to leave any questions there or unmute now to ask any questions. Let’s see what we have here.
I see one question in the Q&A: What is the status of whether provincial regulators are in talks or have adopted CSSB?
That’s a good question. So, the provincial regulators… I’m assuming that refers to the provincial securities regulators, which would be responsible for mandating disclosure standards for publicly listed enterprises. So, the CSA did put out a release when we finished our standards in December, noting that they would take up consideration of our standards at CSDS 1, CSDS 2, really in the specific context of their climate-related standard. I don’t have a timeline or status that I can provide here. The CSSB has a working relationship with regulators, as I noted, is independent. And it’s now the regulators’ responsibility to follow their own rules for rule-making.
What was the basis or rationale to follow the ISSB standard anchored in a single financial materiality perspective?
Thanks, Charles. So that was a decision based off of a review of standard-setting in Canada that came out several years ago. There’s more information, there again, on the FRAS website, detailing all of the recommendations found in that standard-setting review. But in that, it was noted that the original mandate for the CSSB should be to consider the ISSB standards as a starting point, which the board has done in advanced with the conclusion and publication of CSDS 1 and CSDS 2 in December of last year.
I’ll give a couple of more minutes if anyone else wants to ask. A question? Welcome. Otherwise, we might be able to give everybody the best gift of all, which is the gift of time, and end early.
I see a couple more Q&As coming in.
I appreciate the question about guidance on climate transition plan disclosures, including the integration of transition-planning task force guidance materials.
So, the board is working on climate-specific guidance for implementing CSDS 2. That would be available in the next little while. I don’t have a date that I can share at this moment. Future educational or guidance initiatives—those would be taken up after consideration of the strategic plan. As I noted previously, we do have a priority to determine and establish the board’s role in those efforts. So it’s definitely something that we’re looking at closely with the advancement of the strategic plan and, actually, Josh, welcome your feedback at the survey link noted on your slide. So that is, actually, something you can weigh in on.
What is the role of FRAS Sustainability with IPSASB, and what is the relationship between PSAB and the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board. So that’s a great question!
IPSASB—I believe you’re referring to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, which is an international standard-setter for accounting rules that public sector entities would have to disclose against.
This is going to be a similar answer to what Josh said. But the board is seeking feedback on its role in developing future standards for specific entities, and specifically notes the consideration of public sector–specific standards. So, the CSSB is in FRAS Sustainability. It’s another term that I noticed on our slides. We’re independent from IPSASB, but we’re seeking feedback on what our role should be in developing future standards. The path forward for any standards related to climate or otherwise put out by the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board would be considered with close collaboration of PSAB, which you note there. For others that might not be aware, but PSAB is the Public Sector Accounting Standards Board here in Canada. They develop accounting standards for public sector entities, specifically in Canada. So, the CSSB will work and have close dialogue with PSAB, our Oversight Council, in determining the path forward for international public sector climate standards and is looking for your feedback. So if you would like to weigh in on that issue, I encourage you to take up the survey that’s noted here. There’s a link for both French and English on the screen.
How to participate in formulating analyzing the standard? So, that’s a good question.
The process that the CSSB follows for setting things like standards or even the strategic plan is dictated in the board’s Due Process manual, which you can, again, find on the FRAS website in FRAS’s Financial Reporting and Accounting Standards Canada.
So, that process outlines… that document outlines a process where the board will consider market context or consider an international development such as the ISSB’s issuing of S1 and S2, and then take that… consider the Canadian context; release a proposal, like we did in the spring of last year with CSDS 1, CSDS 2; set out a comment period—we had 90 days, I believe, for those two standards; seek feedback during that common period; finalize the feedback period; deliberate the standards in the context of the feedback that was heard, to evaluate the public interest and to evaluate how the final standard should land in Canada. And then the board would decide on the final standards. So that process for CSDS 1 and CSDS 2 (if those are what you’re referring to) did happen last year and concluded, as I’ve noted, in December of 2024. If the board does decide to take on… take to further or create any additional standards, we’d follow a similar process as set out in that Due Process manual.
If you do want to participate in our work, again, the strategic plan is going through that process right now. And I’ll sound like a broken record, but I’ll note that the links on your screen will take you to the place where you can fill out our survey or read the plan itself.
Emilly Renaud: Hi, John. I’m just noting that Serena raised her hand to ask a question live, so I’ll allow her to talk if that works for you.
John Cameron: Sure. I didn’t see that. So that’s great!
Emilly Renaud: Oh, she just lowered her hand. Serena, you can also ask in the Q&A if you don’t want to go live.
John Cameron: Well, I'll give another couple of minutes to see if any more questions come in. But it does look like we’re going to be able to give people back some time here. Say, if I don’t see any questions come in by next minute or so, we’ll shut things down.
Let me just say thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to listen to learn about the board’s proposed strategic plan. This is the CSSB’s inaugural strategic plan. It proposes a path and some priorities that the board is considering to advance over the next three years. We welcome your comments and feedback. It is critical to ensuring that the board takes up work and develops work plans that advance the public interest. And by that, we simply mean addressing the needs of the Canadian-specific context or everybody on this call.
So, I am going to call it that I don’t see any more questions in the chat. And unless I’m mistaken, I don’t see anyone raising their hand.
So… Can we get a slide of the structure?
I’m not quite sure what that means. I believe, maybe you’re referring to a slide of the structure of the CSDS. Unfortunately, I don't have that available at the moment. But if you are interested in learning more about CSDS, you go to our website (there’s a link here in the chat), and you’ll be able to find a web page that has an overview of the standards, a link to where you can go to register to download copies of the standard or read it on Knotia, the CPA Canada’s platform. It also has some information about the changes that the board made to those standards. And that’s all available on the CSSB’s website through FRAS Canada.
So with that, I’m going to say thank you very much to everyone that joined.
How it fits with FRAS… Okay, Paul. I'll go back here. So…
This is the board that… this is the slide that shows the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board fitting in with the international context within Canada. The CSSB is one of four standard or accounting or reporting standard-setting boards here in Canada. There’s the Accounting Standards Board, the Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, and the Auditing Standards Board, and the CSSB. We are all housed under FRAS Canada, or Financial Reporting and Insurance Standards Canada, which itself sits under CPA Canada. I unfortunately don’t have the slide you’re looking for, but that is available on the website if you want to learn more. So, apologies, Paul, for not having exactly what you’re looking for. But I do know that there’s more information available if you wish to find it.
So, thank you very much. I’m going to end. I’m going to stop sharing my slides and say thank you very much for attending. I hope you all have a great rest of your day.