Section 5:
Workplace sustainability
Sustainability matters — but many don’t know how it’s managed
Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) reporting and Sustainability have received increasing prominence over the past 5 years. Some businesses (especially those who trade in Europe and the UK) must now adhere to ESG reporting requirements, with some governments adopting specific reporting frameworks.
In the U.S., there are currently no mandatory federal ESG reporting requirements. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed rules that would require public companies to disclose certain climate-related risks, though these rules are not yet in effect and likely won’t be anytime soon. Some states, such as California, have introduced their own ESG-related regulations, and specific industries may also face unique requirements.
Canada is making significant strides in developing and enforcing ESG regulations, with a strong emphasis on mandatory climate-related disclosures for major financial institutions in particular. The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) has released exposure drafts reinforcing this direction. While ESG reporting is currently voluntary, growing pressure is pushing toward a standardized, mandatory disclosure.
With this background, we wanted to learn about our survey respondents’ understanding of sustainability and ESG.
According to the results, 61% of respondents in the USA and Canada work at companies that have environmental and sustainability goals. 33% of overall respondents say their business operates under an ESG framework (with 30% saying theirs has one in progress)..
Results showed that 24% of workers do not know what is meant by ‘ESG framework’, breaking down to 25% in the USA and 23% in Canada.
In a positive turn, 72% of US and Canadian workers see it as important that employers actively work to reduce environmental impact. This is broken down into 75% of Canadian workers and 69% of US workers.
We also noted that 57% of workers in the USA and Canada believe it is important for non-financial data to be included in financial reports, while a relatively large portion (especially of US workers) does not feel strongly either way.
Summary of Section 5
- ESG frameworks are slightly more common in the USA, even though a larger percentage of US workers say they don’t know what an ESG framework is.
- The vast majority of workers in the USA and Canada see it as important that employers actively work to reduce environmental impact.