Summary:
This introductory note provides a practical overview of sustainability reporting. It may be particularly useful for accounting students and CPA candidates seeking an accessible introduction to sustainability reporting and emerging sustainability disclosure standards. The note explains the evolution from voluntary ESG reporting to more standardized disclosure requirements, including the development of the ISSB and IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. Readers are introduced to key ideas such as financial and impact materiality, climate-related risks, and greenhouse gas emissions reporting. The note also considers the Canadian and international reporting landscape and some of the practical challenges surrounding cost and complexity.
Introductory Note On Sustainability Disclosures
Author: Lauren Nicolaas
Category:
Financial Management
Preamble:
Contributions were made by Joshua Pye and Morgan Powter under the supervision of Lauren Nicolaas. This note was edited by Marziyeh Ghoreishi and final production was done by Ryan Rabie from the Library and Learning Services team at Huron University. The author gratefully acknowledges Alexia Argiropoulos, MES, for her invaluable industry expertise in the development of this note. The author’s intent for the material is to be used in a classroom or other management learning setting.
Published 03-16-2026
Copyright:
This content is freely available without charge to readers and their institutions. All content is published under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Readers are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of this case without seeking prior permission from the author(s).
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