10.7 Sustainability Reporting

Sustainability Reporting
Tom Bartsiokas

Organizations have traditionally based their performance on financial and accounting information. It is only in recent years that organizations have shifted to additional metrics — in terms of environmental and societal impact — to assess their performance. Over the past decade, sustainability reporting has been increasingly adopted by corporations worldwide. In fact, in Canada alone, 91 percent of companies report on their sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance (“KPMG in Canada Report,” 2022).

ESG reporting is mandatory in limited contexts in Canada. For example, federally regulated financial institutions (banks and insurance companies) and companies traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) have some obligations to provide ESG reporting. In Canada, the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) was launched in 2022 to “advance the adoption of sustainability disclosure standards in Canada” (FRAS Canada, n.d.) “The CSSB develops Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards (CSDS) that align with the global baseline standards developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) – but with modifications to serve the Canadian public interest” (FRAS Canada, n.d., para. 1).

For now, sustainability reporting focuses on three main goals:

1. Documentation and assessment of an organization’s environmental and social impact
2. Communication of a company’s sustainability efforts and progress to stakeholders

Sustainability reporting typically focuses on comparing performance in the current year to the previous year and comparing it to specific goals and targets. It can also include a longer-term focus and comparisons to other companies in similar industries and in the same geographic areas.

Sustainability reporting is also referred to as “triple bottom line” reporting, meaning that it takes into account not only the financial bottom line of a company but also the environmental and social “bottom lines” for a company. Sustainability reporting reflects the interrelated progress of a company in the three areas — also referred to as people, planet, and profit.

As of 2025, the following types of reporting are mandatory or otherwise required by law (Brightest, 2025):

• Forced Work and Child Labor: It is the law in Canada for companies to report on their efforts to prevent and reduce forced work and child labor throughout their supply chains.
• Diversity: Canadian corporations are required to disclose information relating to their boards and senior management pertaining specifically to diversity relating to 4 groups including “(1) women, (2) Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), (3) persons with disabilities, and (4) members of visible minorities” (Brightest, 2025).
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions:  Any federal supplier with contracts of over $25 million are required to report on their greenhouse gas emissions as well as the plans they are taking to reduce them.

Sustainable data metrics

For organizations to understand and improve corporate sustainability performance, they need accurate carbon, energy, toxics, waste, and other sustainability data. While traditional business financial statements — such as balance sheets and net income statements — may help a business determine if it is financially sustainable (an important part of business sustainability), they are alone inadequate in measuring a company’s environmental and social progress.

Just as there are accounting standards, such as generally acceptable accounting principles (GAAP), to provide organizations with a common “language” of reporting financial information, there are also standards and processes that have been developed for organizations to measure and communicate their position and progress on sustainability. Following those standards and processes will ensure that the data is treated in such as way as to maintain their validity and reliability.

With advancements in AI, data collection for various ESG measurements is becoming automated. Use of AI-powered platforms are facilitating the collection of data from sensors and other industrial and business systems. This data is discoverable in real time making the reporting process more efficient and timely. For example, the Watershed platform will collect emissions data, analyse and compare the data to that of other companies, then create reports in an automated environment. Another example, Cority, will pull data relating to various metrics including environment, health and safety (EHS) as well as ESG, into a cloud platform making the analysis and reporting process almost seamless. Such automated tools will also automatically update according to changes in federal, industry,  business, and other regulatory standards, helping organizations with compliance obligations.

The Corporate Sustainability Report

One of the most important aspects of sustainability reporting is the communication of the information so that it can be evaluated by stakeholders. For most businesses, the most visible form of sustainability information communication is in their annual corporate sustainability report. This has become an increasingly common document released by major companies and is typically featured on their websites. Many companies will have a section of their website specifically dedicated to highlighting their initiatives and outcomes relating to sustainability. Sustainability information can be included on consumer packaging or other marketing pieces to help brand the sustainability efforts of the company and assist consumer choice.

Companies may not always call this document an annual sustainability report or environmental, social and governance (ESG )report; it could also be called a corporate social responsibility report, corporate responsibility report, global responsibility report, or many other variants, but they all represent an annual report that discusses the ecological, economic, and social impacts of the company. While each company’s annual sustainability report is different and tailored to the organization, there are often several key common features in a sustainability report.

Key common features of an annual sustainability report include the following:

• Executive introduction. A statement from the CEO or other prominent officials at the company discussing the importance of sustainability for their company and discussing how sustainability integrates into their organization.
• Performance summary. A summary of goals, sustainable performance indicators (SPIs), and key events related to sustainability over the past year. Many sustainability reports base their presentation of information on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
• Detailed sections. These sections provide more in-depth discussion of areas of sustainability highlighted in the performance summary. At a minimum, reports will typically discuss economic, environmental, and social impacts. But there may be dedicated sections for specific areas, such as the supply chain or corporate governance. See Table 10.7.1 for information on the information included for each topic area.

Table 10.7.1 Sustainable performance indicators

Table 10.7.1 highlights the most common sustainable performance indicators that are used to evaluate an organization’s sustainability practices over the past year. Adapted from Canada Energy Sector, 2023.

GenAI can assist in the analysis of ESG data and the preparation of reports in much the same way that it can be used for other types of reports (Vanden Ecker & Giele, 2024). Note from the Types of Information listed above that the information and data to be collected for the report are only available within organizations and so are context-specific.  If not using an all-in-one ESG platform that can automatically draft a report for you, an LLM can assist in drafting a general outline, give you direction on improving it, then help you create the final report. If your organization makes use of AI tools that have been built on the organization’s knowledge base including data relating to sustainability and governance, it will become easier to make use of LLMs and agents to assist in the preparation of the report. Keep in mind the importance of privacy and confidentiality: Do not upload to any general and public LLM information that is proprietary and private, confidential, or that could otherwise compromise the organization if found on a pubic site.

ESG Resources

Organizations have become increasingly more sophisticated in their aspirations and approaches to sustainability—including an embrace of greater transparency—which has translated into tools and sustainability evaluation methods that continue to improve and expand over time.

Currently, there are a number of guides and toolkits online to assist organizations with their ESG reporting.

• CPA Sustainability: A library of sustainability resources for Charted Professional Accountants.
• Bank of Canadian Entrepreneurs (BDC): A site that contains reporting templates for both ESG and EDI initiatives.
• Government of Canada – Corporate Social Responsibility: A government of Canada website that features an implementation guide for Canadian businesses, corporate social responsibility toolkit, sustainability roadmap, and other useful resources.
• SHIFT: An online platform containing sustainability frameworks and ESG tools.

Sample ESG reports

• Canadian Tire
• City of Toronto
• Loblaw Companies Ltd.
• Scotia Bank

Other resources

• Seneca Libraries Sustainability Guide
• The 17 sustainable development goals

Attributions

Content has been adapted from:

“The Sustainable Business Case Book” by Ross Gittell, Matt Magnusson and Michael Merenda, Saylor Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

GenAI Use

Chapter review exercises were created with the assistance of CoPilot.

References

Brightest. (2025). Canada ESG Reporting Requirements in 2025 – Laws, Rules & Regulations

Canadian Sustainability Standards Board. www.frascanada.ca, www.frascanada.ca/en/cssb.

Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE). (2025). The Future of ESG: Real-Time Sustainability Reporting with AI

Government of Canada, Canada Energy Regulator. (2023, November 27). CER – the Canada Energy Regulator and ESG – Overview of environmental, social, and governance (ESG).” Www.cer-Rec.gc.ca. www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/about/publications-reports/canada-energy-regulator-esg/canada-energy-regulator-esg-overview.html?=undefined&wbdisable=true.

KPMG. (2022). Big shifts, small steps – Canadian addendum: Survey of sustainability reporting 2022. Big shifts, small steps – KPMG Canada

Vanden Ecker, R. and Giele, H. (2024, July 12). How AI can power your sustainability reporting – KPMG Belgium