If you’re running a small business, it won’t be long before you’re going to be asked to prepare a report on how your enterprise is dealing with climate change or climate risk.
(Just like, of you run a farming operation, you’ve probably heard about preparing a sustainability plan.)
For now, these reports are for big, publicly-traded enterprises but soon anyone who deals with a federally-regulated bank will be asked to submit a report because the financial institution will be required to file their own report.
Because there are levels or scopes of emissions that you’ll have to learn about — there is a difference between carbon neutral and net zero and so on — businesspeople will have required to learn a new language and higher reporting requirements.
All of this falls under the umbrella Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) standards.
But it is clear the E component – environment or climate change – has emerged as the dominant letter in this abbreviation while social is something critically important in Saskatchewan where traditional lands and Indigenous rights occupies a big space on the political agenda.
