If you are a regular follower of my site, you might have noticed that I have not written much over the past few months. 

That’s because I was spending most of my time on a project in partnership with the Sustainable Growth Initiative at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management. Together, we were assessing the feasibility of a plan to convince more businesses in Canada to commit to cutting their emissions to reach net zero.

We know climate change is a whole-of-society problem. Governments can’t solve it alone—every sector needs to act. Our business community, in particular, has both the influence and the capacity to make an enormous difference. Canadian companies are filled with talented, action-oriented leaders—the kind of people who solve tough problems and make things happen. If even a fraction of the talent and energy of our business community were focused on reducing emissions, the impact could be transformative.

Yet among Canada’s 1.3 million businesses, very few even know how much greenhouse gas they produce, and fewer still have reduction targets aligned with global goals to reach net zero by 2050.

But there are exceptions. A small number of leading Canadian firms have made credible, transparent, science-based climate commitments—and they tend to be among our most successful and influential.

For our project, we set out to answer two key questions:

1. What defines a meaningful and credible climate commitment for a company?
   
2. How can we motivate far more Canadian businesses to make those commitments?

What is a “real” corporate climate commitment?

How can you tell if a business is really committed to climate action? 

These days, almost every company claims to be a responsible corporate citizen, touting its sustainability credentials and ethical practices. But those claims are tough to assess.

Often, companies point you to glossy impact reports – PDFs that run hundreds of pages, so it can be a lot of work to figure out if they have a credible, science-based plan to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, or whether their “climate strategy” amounts to taking the team on an offsite once a year to clean up a park.

Fortunately, several organizations serve as third-party registries for corporate climate commitments. Globally, there’s the UN’s Race to Zero Campaign, and in Canada, the federal government’s Net Zero Challenge, led by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

These programs maintain registries of companies that meet clear, science-based criteria. To qualify, a company must:

• Make a public pledge to cut emissions in line with net-zero by 2050 (or sooner)
• Set credible interim targets toward that goal
• Develop a concrete plan to achieve them
• Report annually on its progress

Being listed in one of these registries signals to stakeholders that a company’s plan is credible, transparent, accountable, and aligned with global net-zero goals—no need to sift through a lengthy disclosure to know where it stands.

The Problem – Too Few Real Commitments

Globally, the UN’s Race to Zero Campaign includes over 15,000 organizations that have made such pledges, with a lot of those coming from Western Europe.

In Canada, though, the number is still small – only 300 to 400 companies have made credible climate pledges registered with either the Race to Zero or Canada’s Net Zero Challenge.

Our ambition was to come up with a way to change that – to increase the number of companies with registered climate commitments from the current 300 to 400 to over 5,000 by 2030.

But how?

The Idea: Using peer influence

Despite the relatively small number of companies, there are some truly amazing ones in Canada that are leading in climate change.

These companies are the innovators in our business community—the bold pioneers who see climate action not as a cost, but as a catalyst for competitiveness, innovation, and long-term resilience. They’re proving that reducing emissions can go hand in hand with creating value, attracting talent, and strengthening their brands.

Our idea was to create an association of companies that have already made credible, transparent, and accountable emission-reduction commitments through the UN’s Race to Zero or Canada’s Net Zero Challenge. By uniting these corporate leaders, we aimed to showcase how cutting emissions can also drive business success—through the stories and experiences of the members themselves.

The coalition would highlight real-world examples of how credible climate action improves efficiency, strengthens reputation, attracts investment, and creates long-term value. It would also offer guidance and support to companies ready to develop their own emission-reduction plans, helping turn leadership into momentum across Canada’s business community.

A Summer of Zoom Meetings

We thought we were onto a good idea – but of course we did – we thought of it.  What we needed to do was validate that others thought it was a good idea, too. 

So we set out to talk to Canadian corporate leaders to see if they would be willing to participate in this project.  Ultimately, to proceed, we needed feedback indicating that we could enlist three to five of Canada’s most prominent climate-leading companies as co-founders of this initiative with us.

We also needed confidence that we could raise enough funding to make the project viable. The initiative would primarily be a communications campaign—highlighting existing climate leaders, sharing their lessons and successes, and showcasing the business benefits of cutting emissions. We estimated a budget of about $5 million to sustain the effort over three years.

We knew the goals were ambitious and that the current environment posed real headwinds. But we reasoned that if we didn’t try, we’d never know what was possible. So we built a target list of companies and spent the summer arranging calls and interviews.

My colleagues and I spent much of the summer on Zoom, meeting with Canada’s leading climate-active companies to gauge interest in launching what we were temporarily calling the Canadian Net Zero Business Alliance—a coalition of firms with credible, third-party-validated climate commitments, working together to inspire others to follow their lead.

Over the summer, we reached out to more than 40 organizations and spoke with over 20 of them. These included major Canadian companies already part of the Net Zero Challenge or Race to Zero, other climate-committed firms that hadn’t yet formalized their pledges, climate organizations working with business, and key funders supporting emission-reduction initiatives.

The process of assessing our project’s feasibility was genuinely rewarding. We met many insightful and inspiring people—leaders driving meaningful climate action within their organizations. Despite their packed schedules, they were generous with their time, candid in their views, and often went a step further by connecting us with others in their networks.

Everyone brought a unique perspective, but when we stepped back, clear themes began to emerge from our conversations.

What We Learned

1. People loved the idea—but companies aren’t people.

Almost everyone we spoke with responded with genuine enthusiasm and support to our project. But as the conversation turned to whether their companies might participate or contribute financially, you could almost see the internal calculus begin: How would I pitch this to my boss? What’s in it for us? What do we gain—or risk—by getting involved?

We realized that for individuals, the motivation to support our project was clear—protecting the planet and ensuring a safe future for their families. For companies, however, the benefits were mostly reputational: being seen as a business doing the right thing.

But those reputational rewards no longer seem to carry the weight they once did. Over the past year, the mood seems to have shifted. Climate leadership, once viewed as a valuable brand asset, has become something many companies are now more hesitant to promote.

2. Companies are uncertain about how to talk about climate right now.

A few years ago, companies were eager to showcase their climate efforts. Now, even many leaders prefer to keep their heads down. This “greenhushing”—when firms deliberately downplay or stay silent about their environmental initiatives to avoid scrutiny, backlash, or accusations of greenwashing—is becoming increasingly common.

The shift isn’t necessarily about reduced commitment—all of the companies we spoke with are continuing the work—but they’re less motivated to talk about it. In a world preoccupied with tariffs and the threat of recession, promoting green credentials no longer feels like the right message, even for Canada’s top climate leaders.

3. Companies are genuinely worried about U.S. retaliation.

Many of Canada’s leading climate-active firms are also its largest—deeply integrated into the U.S. market and exposed to American regulations. Most of the companies we spoke with cited the risk of negative impacts on their businesses if they were overly prominent in promoting their climate plans.

They have good reason to be cautious. In recent years, Republican-led states and the federal government have launched investigations, issued legal threats, and withdrawn billions in state funds from firms that incorporate climate or ESG principles into their operations or investments.

So far, most of this backlash has targeted asset managers and financial institutions, but it could easily extend to other sectors that depend on the government through regulation, procurement, or public contracts.

For companies operating in that environment, keeping a low profile on climate isn’t necessarily a lack of commitment; it’s self-preservation.

4. Companies are uneasy about Canada’s new greenwashing laws.

I can’t say I have much sympathy on this point, but the concern we heard from companies is real.

Several companies told us that new greenwashing regulations make them hesitant to say anything about their climate goals or achievements. In reality, this shouldn’t be a problem: any public statement simply needs to be accurate and substantiated.

These same leaders routinely navigate securities and advertising laws—where misleading investors or consumers carries serious penalties—and that hasn’t stopped them from promoting their products or performance.

There’s also plenty of evidence that Canada’s new law, which ensures that companies’ environmental and climate-related claims are truthful, specific, and backed by evidence, does not impede strong, transparent climate communication.

Consider, for instance, the statement released by the Caisse de dépôt earlier this summer. The fund showed no hesitation in making strong claims about its climate progress:

But perception is reality. For now, many firms see the new rules as a problem. Hopefully, as the regulations mature and companies gain more guidance, they’ll regain confidence in speaking openly about their climate efforts.

5. Government is signalling that climate is not a priority right now — and business is taking note.

It’s short-sighted, but it’s the reality. Businesses often take their cues from government, and lately those cues have been clear: climate is not at the top of the agenda. Many of the businesses we spoke with seem to be pushing climate plans down their priority list as well.

Over the past six months, Ottawa has repealed the consumer carbon tax, Alberta has refused to increase the industrial carbon price, and mandatory emissions reporting has been paused. The federal electric-vehicle mandate is under review, and key regulations—like the clean electricity standard and the oil and gas emissions cap—are rumoured to be on the chopping block. Ministers are even refusing to reaffirm Canada’s legally enshrined emission targets.

What is being prioritized instead is expanding fossil fuel exports and fast-tracking projects that weaken environmental protections. If governments are stepping back on climate, it’s unrealistic to expect business to charge ahead alone.

Still, this retreat can’t last. After another summer of record wildfires, choking air, and destructive floods, public pressure is building. Protest movements are reawakening, and even members of the governing party are organizing to call for renewed climate ambition. The message may have shifted, but it can’t stay muted for long.

Conclusion: A Pause, Not an End

In the end, we concluded that, while the idea resonated widely, the timing to bring Canadian businesses together to accelerate credible climate action just isn’t right now.

We spoke with many extraordinary people this summer: smart, committed, and deeply engaged in the fight against climate change. But even among corporate climate leaders, this moment feels uncertain. Many now face real risks for taking bold positions, as governments retreat from past commitments and the reputational rewards for climate leadership have faded. The message from policymakers seems to be: this isn’t the priority right now.

Yet beneath the surface, something important is shifting. Many business leaders are beginning to frame climate action less as virtue and more as value—seeing emission reductions as smart economics, risk management, and future competitiveness. That mindset, combined with an eventual return to stronger public policy, will lay the groundwork for a much deeper wave of corporate engagement.

Some call this period a climate recession—and I actually find that hopeful. Recessions, after all, are temporary. They reset priorities and prepare the ground for the next phase of growth. For those who stay ready and keep learning, downturns are not the end of momentum—they’re the quiet space before it builds again.

And after a summer full of conversations, lessons, and ideas, I’m already thinking about what comes next.