Canadian companies that disclose their climate-related risks and impacts have a considerable advantage over those that don’t when it comes to attracting financing from European institutional investors, according to our recent report for the Institute for Sustainable Finance at Queen’s University.

That advantage matters now more than ever. Climate disclosure — companies publicly reporting on their greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related risks and how they plan to manage them — has become a harder sell.

Backlash against environmental, social and governance investing is gripping the United States and many corporate leaders have gone quiet on sustainability.

Canada’s stock market skews toward capital-intensive industries that rely heavily on foreign investment such as energy, materials, industrials and utilities. Remaining visible and attractive to major institutional investors is especially important for these companies, and Europe is the largest source of non-North American institutional investment in Canada, according to our data.

United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the broader unpredictability of American trade policy have pushed Canada to diversify its economic relationships away from reliance on the U.S. Attracting more capital from Europe gives Canadian companies a buffer against that volatility.

Climate disclosure is one of the clearest levers Canadian........

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