ESG, Sustainability, Climate Risk and the Law

Landscape of ESG, Sustainability, Climate Risk and Indigenous Perspectives in Canada

• Evolution of the ESG, sustainability and climate risk landscape in Canada
• Indigenous rights, communities, values and priorities – adding the “I” and embedding Indigenous perspectives within all considerations and conversations
• Exploring the range of views, controversies, areas of debate and trade‑offs, including the “ESG backlash” and reactions to it
• Key terms and a map of key players – national and global – COP, IPPC, IEA, ISSB, CSSBP
• Where are things heading?

Understanding Duties, Roles and Responsibilities

• Shifting expectations involving ESG/sustainability duties, roles and responsibilities:
  • Corporate directors
  • Investors
  • Pension Trustees
  • Lawyers
  • Public sector/government
• Important similarities and distinctions

Understanding Reporting and Disclosure Standards and Requirements

• Standards, requirements and approaches in North America vs. Europe
  • Single vs. double materiality, voluntary vs. mandatory
  • Core requirements and distinctions for entities (banks, insurance, pension funds, public vs. private companies, government and other public sector entities)
• Important issues requiring reporting – climate change, modern slavery, EDI/DEI and others
• What’s coming? (nature‑based solutions, TNFD)

Interactive Discussion: Governance and Reporting
Using real‑world examples, faculty will lead a discussion on the day’s key themes and takeaways, including insights and lessons learned on how to better manage ESG, sustainability and climate related governance and reporting obligations.

Evolving Scope of Social Considerations

• Why is social a criteria? How does it rank/intersect with other criteria?
• Indigenous rights, communities and stewardship priorities – national and international
• International standards: UN Global Compact and Guiding Principles on BHR, PRI, SFDR
• Global events, impacts and growing expectations for the “world of work”
• Key risks, challenges and legal issues – corporate, lender, community, and investment/pension perspectives

Examples of Social Issues: Key Principles, Developments and Case Law

• DEI and Affirmative Action
• Indigenous communities and considerations
• Labour/Employment and ‘human capital’
• Human Rights
• Business and Human Rights (BHR)

Sector‑Specific Considerations: Social Responsibilities, Risks and Impacts
Faculty will discuss social responsibilities, risks and impacts, including a focus on Indigenous communities and perspectives, as well as current debates/conflicts and supply chain issues in the following sectors:

• Mining
• Manufacturing/garment
• Energy and oil

Interactive Discussion: Social Responsibilities and Indigenous Perspectives
Faculty will lead an interactive discussion to reinforce the day’s themes and the importance of analyzing and prioritizing social responsibilities, risks and impacts, including Indigenous perspectives, when assessing the scope of your ESG, sustainability and climate risk obligations.

Environmental/Climate Factors in Canada

• Where do we stand with climate regulation? What do the rules say?
• Evolving scope of environmental/climate factors, risks and considerations
• Canada’s Climate Policy – mapping out key legislation and regulation
• Canada’s Climate Strategy Standards – regulations, pricing, policy considerations, requirements, and stakeholder engagement

Science of Climate Change and the Physical and Transition Risks

• Overview of the science of climate change
• Certainty vs. uncertainty (for now), tipping points, etc
• Physical and transition risks of climate change
• Mitigation to adaptation/resilience – how to position your company, and what you need to know

Climate Economic Modelling: Uses and Abuses

• Overview of climate economic modelling
• Summary of the main models in use
• Understanding the main uses (and abuses) – pros and cons
• Limitations of the current economic/climate models

Climate Specific Reporting and Disclosure Standards

• Overview of reporting and disclosure standards and requirements – what’s new and different?
• Deeper dive into banking and insurance regulation regulation – how is risk shifting?
• Implications for the cost and availability of credit and insurance in climate sensitive sectors
• Securities law requirements – SEC and the various Canadian securities regulators
• Accounting standards – ISSB and CSSB

Climate Economics, Finance and Green Transition

• Overview of climate economics and finance
• What will the ‘green transition’ cost?
• Understanding investment and financial structures and opportunities
• Where are things heading?

Carbon Markets and Climate Transition Plans

• Overview of carbon markets
• What are climate transition plans? (including Climate Paths to Net Zero)
  • Who is actively participating in the transition?
  • Reviewing divestment vs. how to move toward the energy transition faster
  • Critical importance of the energy transition

What is ‘Green’: Understanding Climate‑Related Investment Standards, Frameworks and Taxonomies

• What’s considered ‘green’? What are the issues with the standards?
• Core disclosure and transparency considerations
• Rapid growth of financial instruments and principles – green bonds, transition bonds, sustainability‑linked loans, social bonds
• Investment product specific disclosure standards – CFA Society, EU SFDR, PRI, ‘soft laws’ and others

Overview of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and Carbon Pricing Debates

• What do the concepts mean?
• Understanding CCUS and the debates
  • How does CCUS work – overview of each step, and the role in clean energy transitions
  • Current uses, pros and cons, innovations
  • Where do we need to go?
• Understanding carbon pricing debates – costs, risks, opportunities, key players, strategies, challenges, risks and legal issues
  • Circular climate and energy economy
  • Where do we need to go?
• Practical considerations and takeaways

Crucial Developments in Climate Litigation and Case Law

• Key litigation, trends and the associated risks, nationally and globally
• Crucial impacts, distinctions and disproportionate impacts
• How and why litigation trends drive risk management – lessons learned, why things go wrong, mitigation/improvement ideas
• Best practices and tips to analyze and mitigate legal risk

Biodiversity Challenge and Climate‑Related Impacts and Issues

• What is the biodiversity challenge?
• Challenges, resistance and systemic risk for investor groups – climate capital and biodiversity‑related financing, nature‑themed investment solutions/products
• Considerations to transition toward a nature‑positive economy – sustainability targets, “bio‑credits,” thematic and impact investing
  New standards to be developed

ESG/Sustainability Risk Management in the Pension and Corporate Contexts

• ESG/sustainability in the pension and corporate contexts
• Understanding Indigenous perspectives, intersections and impacts
• Key risk management considerations and priorities
  • Board committee mandates
  • Management responsibilities, direct reports
  • Executive compensation
• Tying things together/execution – who’s responsible for what, who reports to whom, downstream implications
• What now/how do we make it happen?

Interactive Discussion: Climate Risk, Sustainability and Indigenous Advancements, Innovations and Collaborations

Faculty will lead a discussion to explore where things are at with the integrity and actioning of ESG, sustainability and climate goals and Indigenous‑led solutions. Highlighting key scientific and technological advancements and policy changes, the conversation will explore a series of collaborative works and projects, including Indigenous‑led advancements, innovations and stewardship, which are serving to ‘move the needle’ in the right direction.

Program includes six (6) on demand primer classes, covering core concepts to enhance in‑class learning and discussion.

We strongly recommend viewing all primers prior to attending the program.
To obtain your Certificate, all six (6) primers must be viewed:

• ESG, Law and Policy
  (75 mins, recorded in 2021)
• Climate Science, Risk and Carbon Neutrality/Net Zero
  (90 mins, recorded in 2021)
• Governance Framework
  (50 mins, recorded in 2021)
• Indigenous Rights, Consent and the Duty to Consult in Canada
  (100 mins, recorded in 2021)
• Indigenous‑Led Projects and Partnerships
  (80 mins, recorded in 2021)
• Trends in Sustainable Finance
  (~45 mins, to be recorded in 2024)