The investor-led Climate Engagement Canada (CEC) initiative’s third annual disclosure benchmark has revealed an increase in the quality of corporate climate transition plans, but reported “incremental progress” overall.
While the total number of transition plans disclosed in 2025 remained unchanged from the prior year, many were substantially more comprehensive.
The benchmark found that 25 companies (63%) disclosed transition plans outlining how they will meet their emissions reduction targets, with six (15%) linking their decarbonisation plans directly to how they will abate major sources of emissions, double that of 2024.
The plans are now more frequently accompanied by costed transition plans, offering transparency on financing decarbonisation activities. But the CEC said most transition plans were prepared without consulting workers, communities and Indigenous rightsholders.
“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,” said Barb Zvan, CEO of UPP Ontario and CEC Steering Committee Chair.
The CEC is a coalition of 60 institutional investors (US$10.3 trillion AUM) focused on dialogue with large and carbon-intensive Canadian listed firms to drive a just transition to a net zero economy.
The report said only nine companies (23%) disclosed that they assess board competencies for climate oversight, marking a decrease from 2024. Consistent with last year’s results, all 40 companies disclosed information detailing board oversight of climate change as a material issue.
Half of the CEC’s focus companies (20) have disclosed a short-term emissions reduction target for 2025, a significant increase from the 13 companies that had set a short-term target in the prior year’s assessment.
The alignment with emerging global standards is also starting to show. Five companies (13%) included specific signposts, such as alignment tables, to international or domestic climate reporting standards in their 2025 disclosures.
Eighteen companies (45%) also received a public policy performance band of D+ or higher, indicating that the combined climate policy engagement of these companies is now at least partially aligned with science-based recommendations.
