ESG Explorer

According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report, the science is now settled that human behaviour is the cause of climate change and it will have profound effects on our economy and natural world. In this episode, Osler’s Andrea Boctor, partner and Chair of the Pensions and Benefits group, discusses with Ecojustice lawyer Andhra Azevedo about how pension plan administrators’ fiduciary duty likely requires them to understand, assess, and manage climate-related risks.

In this episode, Andrew MacDougall, a partner in the Corporate Group at Osler and a co-author of the Diversity Disclosure Practices report, interviews Andrea Wood, executive vice president and Chief Legal and Governance Officer of TELUS, who also serves as Corporate Secretary to the TELUS Board of Directors. Andrea shares her perspectives on diversity, particularly at the executive level, and her role in advancing TELUS’ social purpose and global leadership in sustainability. In addition to her corporate leadership, Andrea is an active volunteer, serving on the boards of several community-based organizations, and serves as TELUS’ executive sponsor for Connections, a grassroots initiative supporting women’s networking and career growth across the organization. Andrea has also been recognized as the 2024 recipient of the Blakes Judy L. Wilson Diversity Award by the Canadian General Counsel Awards.

In October 2024, Osler released its tenth annual Diversity Disclosure Practices – Diversity and leadership at Canadian public companies report. This publication examines diversity disclosure by companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and corporations governed by the Canada Business Corporations Act subject to disclosure requirements. This milestone edition provides a comprehensive look at the progress corporate Canada has made over the past decade to increase diversity of their leadership, highlighting best practices and identifying areas where work remains, especially for diverse groups beyond gender.

In this episode, host John Valley, a partner in the Corporate group and a co-author of the report, moderates a discussion on its findings with his co-authors, partners Andrew MacDougall and Joanna Cameron and associate Jessie Armour.

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In October 2022, Osler released its eighth annual Diversity Disclosure Practices - Diversity and leadership at Canadian public companies. The report looks at how well companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and governed by the Canada Business Corporations Act are doing at working to improve diversity in senior leadership positions. This includes increasing representation of women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities in senior leadership positions.

In this episode, guest host Colleen Moorehead, Osler’s Chief Client Officer, moderates a discussion about the report’s findings with regular podcast host and report co-author John Valley and Deborah Rosati, Founder & CEO of Women Get On Board.

Earlier this year, the Council of the European Union agreed on two new directives that will form cornerstones of the European Green Deal and have far-reaching implications, affecting many Canadian businesses with operations in Europe or who are part of a global value chain delivering goods or services to Europe.

In this episode, Osler’s Lisa Mantello, a partner in the Banking & Financial Services group, hosts Ulrich Wolff, a Corporate partner at Linklaters in Frankfurt, to discuss how the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive mark a “step change” in ESG considerations, where the process goes from here, and how Canadian businesses that might be affected can get ready for the new compliance requirements.