New 2025 CEC Benchmark Company Assessments Show Trend of Status Quo

Third annual disclosure assessment of Canada’s top reporting or estimated emitters on the Toronto Stock Exchange signals that despite continued focus on a low-carbon future, emissions reduction targets must increase in both scope and rigor to meet 2050 ambitions.

November 13, 2025

TORONTO | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat – Climate Engagement Canada (CEC) is a growing investor-led engagement initiative with 61 institutional investors representing almost ~$14.5 trillion focused on driving Canada’s business transition to net zero. Today, the initiative released its third annual Disclosure Benchmark, and updated Public Policy Engagement Alignment Assessments, providing up-to-date tools for CEC participant investors to frame and measure the success of their engagements with Focus List companies. These companies represent many of Canada’s top reporting or estimated emitters and/or corporate issuers with a significant opportunity to contribute to the transition to a low-carbon future in Canada. The CEC Disclosure Benchmark, reflecting publicly disclosed information as of June 1, 2025, provides a set of detailed and comparative common standards to support corporate issuers’ progress toward aligning with the Paris Agreement’s ambition, limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees.

The new assessments released today show incremental progress on 6 of the 10 Benchmark Indicators. While the number of transition plans disclosed in 2025 remained unchanged, many of them were more comprehensive and provided additional detail on how companies intend to reach their targets. Further, more companies began publishing costed transition plans, providing transparency on how they will finance their decarbonization activities. However, the results indicate that most transition plans this year were prepared without consulting workers, communities and Indigenous rightsholders.

New this year, the Benchmark assessed companies’ preparation for mandatory climate disclosure by adopting International Financial Reporting Standards S2 (IFRS S2) or Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards 2 (CSDS 2) or their international equivalents. Over a quarter of companies disclosed commitments to aligning with these standards, suggesting many are in the early stages of preparing for mandatory disclosure. Finally, companies demonstrated an increased focus on climate risk through improved results on scenario analysis.

Also updated in 2025, 4 companies were removed from the Focus List and 3 were added to account for investor participant influence, largest emissions and actions taken. As a result, 40 companies were assessed vs. 41 in 2024 and 2023, leading to a slight shift in year-over-year comparison points. For more information on the CEC Focus List, click [here].

As a complement to the Disclosure Benchmark, CEC published new alignment assessments in October, providing the first systematic analysis of how the accounting, audit and capital expenditure decisions of Canada’s top reporting or estimated emitters on the TSX align with climate science and transition scenarios. Access the assessments [here].

CEC remains committed to supporting effective dialogue between participant investors and Canadian corporate issuers to promote a just transition to a net zero economy.

2025 Key Findings

CEC Disclosure Benchmark:

- - 25 companies (63%) disclosed transition plans outlining how they will meet their emissions reduction targets. 6 companies (15%) linked their decarbonization plans directly to how they will abate major sources of emissions, double that of 2024.

- - 6 companies (15%) committed to aligning capital expenditures with their GHG reduction target or phasing out planned expenditure in unabated carbon-intensive assets or reduction targets, compared to 3 (7%) in 2024 and 0 in 2023.

- - 17 companies (43%) disclosed a net zero ambition in 2025 compared to 20 (49%) in 2024 and 18 (44%) in 2023.

- - 28 companies (70%) disclosed medium-term GHG reduction targets, fewer than in 2024 (76%) and 2023 (78%), respectively.

- - 8 companies (20%) published a short-term target in 2025 compared to 13 (32%) in 2024 and 15 (37%) in 2023.

- - All companies disclosed board oversight of climate change in 2025, a consistent result with 2024. However, less than a quarter of companies (9 or 23%) disclosed assessing board competencies for climate oversight – a decrease of 3 companies compared to 2024.

- - 6 companies (15%) published disclosures acknowledging that implementing their decarbonization strategies may have impacts on workers, unions, communities, suppliers and/or customers, an increase from 2 companies (5%) from 2024 and 2023. Only 1 company (2%) acknowledged decarbonization impacts for Indigenous communities, governments and businesses.

- - 5 companies (13%) included signposts, such as alignment tables, to the new IFRS/CSDS standards in their 2025 disclosures, demonstrating that they are in the early stages of aligning with these new standards. The number of companies conducting climate-related scenario analysis increased by 1 in 2025, with 19 companies (48%) disclosing their results.

Public Policy Engagement Alignment Assessments:

- - 15% of companies (6 of 40) saw increases in their Organization Score from 2024 to 2025, reflecting improved performance in direct engagement on climate policy.

- - 18 companies (45%) received a Performance Band of D+ or higher. This suggests that there are now more Focus List companies whose combined direct and indirect climate policy engagement is at least partially aligned with science-based recommendations.

ACCESS THE ASSESSMENTS HERE

For additional information on CEC’s methodology, evaluation process, Focus List company input, research partners and governance, click HERE

CEC Disclaimer and Data Usage Terms and Conditions

The CEC Net Zero Benchmark does not score or rank corporate issuers, nor does it use overall numeric or alphabetic ratings. Please see both the CEC Disclaimer and the Data Usage Terms and Conditions for additional information.

Quotes from CEC representatives

Barb Zvan

President and CEO, UPP and CEC Steering Committee Chair

"The 2025 Benchmark results show that, despite political headwinds and uncertainty, Canadian companies are largely staying the course on climate and making progress in key areas. The trend towards more detailed and costed transition plans is encouraging because while investors care about targets, they care as much, if not more, about the strategies companies are using to achieve them. A significant gap in corporate strategies, flagged in this year's results, is the consideration of Indigenous peoples -- an issue investors must continue to press. It's insights like these that make CEC's annual Benchmark so valuable to the investor community."

Sarah Takaki

Managing Director, Sustainable Investing HOOP and CEC Steering Committee Vice-Chair

“CEC has reached a significant milestone with release of the third annual Net Zero Benchmark. We continue to see incremental progress across 6 of the 10 indicators, reflecting the ongoing dialogue between Canadian companies and investors. The indicators also highlight where further progress is needed to meet investors’ expectations. Also, CEC itself continues to grow, with 61 institutional investors now participating - demonstrating that climate disclosures and risk management remain critical priorities for investors in Canada and globally.”

Maia Becker

Senior Director, Responsible Investment, RBC Global Asset Management, and CEC Technical Committee Chair

"The third annual CEC Net Zero Company Benchmark reveals encouraging signs that Canadian companies are making meaningful progress towards aligning with the goals of the Paris Agreement. For example, the Benchmark this year highlights that more companies have established a decarbonization strategy, and are starting to link this to their capital allocation plans. This is important because it provides transparency on how they will finance their strategies and activities. An area of continued focus will be on ensuring companies provide disclosures on material issues related to climate change. The Benchmark is a vital tool for driving conversations between the financial community and corporate issuers in the transition to a net zero economy."

Patricia Fletcher

CEO, Responsible Investment Association, CEC Joint Secretariat Co-Lead, and CEC Steering Committee Member

“The CEC Benchmark continues to be an important tool for tracking progress and supporting constructive dialogue between investors and companies as they navigate the transition to a net zero economy. Consistent, comparable data helps investors and companies understand where progress is being made and where further work is needed. The CEC Benchmark provides that clarity.”

Kevin Thomas

CEO, SHARE, CEC Joint Secretariat Co-Lead and CEC Steering Committee Member

“Strong boards and executives face risks head on and manage them; weak ones try to avoid or deny what’s coming. The CEC benchmark is our way of telling which is which. None of these companies are knocking it out of the park, but what we’re looking for are solid base hits, the kind that tell us that this management team is focused on building their competitive advantage in a transitioning economy.”

Chelsie Hunt

Quinn+Partners

"This year marks a meaningful milestone—our third consecutive year leading the research for the Climate Engagement Canada Net Zero Benchmark. In 2025, our mission was clear: to illuminate how Canadian companies are genuinely advancing toward a net-zero future and empowering participants with insights that inspire action and drive meaningful change."

Charlie Bain

Analyst, InfluenceMap

“Focus List companies continue to exhibit climate policy engagement which is either ‘partially aligned’ or ‘misaligned’ with policy pathways for delivering the goals of the Paris Agreement. Opportunities for improvement include addressing indirect engagement, with 62% of Focus List companies represented negatively on climate by their industry associations.”

Helen Tooze

Senior Policy Researcher and Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Canada Climate Law Initiative

“Strong climate governance is increasingly viewed as a proxy for long-term resilience. The third annual CEC Net Zero Benchmark demonstrates just how powerful consistent, comparable climate data can be. By tracking governance and performance year over year, investors can now distinguish genuine transition leadership from rhetoric and direct capital with greater certainty. It is a vital tool for strengthening market confidence as Canada moves toward a more resilient and competitive economy.”

About Climate Engagement Canada (CEC)

Climate Engagement Canada (CEC) is a finance-led initiative that drives dialogue between the financial community and corporate issuers to promote a just transition to a net zero economy. Through CEC, 60 investor participants (with ~$10.7T in assets under management covered by the initiative) (a) help Canadian public companies among the top reporting or estimated emitters on the Toronto Stock Exchange, or those missed by global initiatives, successfully evolve their business models and transition toward our country’s climate commitments, and (b) enhance the level of transparency into Canadian climate risk exposure and transition strategies. In 2019, Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance made a recommendation to establish a national engagement program to drive a broader and more consistent dialogue with Canadian issuers around climate risks and opportunities (Recommendation 10.2). CEC is a response to that call to action.

Through multi-year CEC engagements, company boards and senior leaders of Canadian companies can learn about the concerns and expectations of the financial sector as they relate to a timely transition to Net Zero emissions by 2050. This includes i) Strong governance frameworks with oversight of climate change risks and opportunities; ii) GHG-emission reduction strategies consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement; iii) Measurable, sector-relevant targets; iv) Global standard disclosures (e.g., the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB)/International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)); and, v) Paris Agreement-aligned advocacy activities. CEC is coordinated by its Joint Secretariat: The Responsible Investment Association (RIA) and the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE). The initiative is also supported by the international investor networks the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and Ceres.

Media Contact

For media enquiries, please contact: Ady Jonsohn ady@riacanada.ca.

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