Corporate Knights Summer 2025

Nature-based solutions are increasingly recognized as essential to addressing climate change, in part due to their significant potential to sequester carbon and contribute to global emissions reduction needs. However, recent estimates put the biodiversity funding gap at $700B annually, with calls for more significant private sector involvement to reach 2030 targets. As corporate climate strategies evolve, there is also growing interest in embedding nature into net-zero commitments, supply-chain resilience strategies, and ESG initiatives. Given existing credit markets, certification programs, and more rigorous disclosure standards, carbon has often taken precedence in discourses focused on mobilizing private sector investment for nature-based solutions. But nature does far more than sequester carbon: it supports a myriad of ecosystem services, underpinning climate regulation, biodiversity protection, the provisioning of raw resources and materials, human health and…

Blind to methane Re: “Big Grocers Have a Methane Blind Spot.” I just wanted to say a big thank you for highlighting the need for a plant-based diet in this piece. Too often the methane emissions associated with meat and dairy are left out of the conversation on climate concerns, so it was great to see organizations like Changing Markets Foundation and Mighty Earth pushing for change. These retailers need to start implementing real plans to reduce their emissions by having plantbased alternatives, and your piece makes sure that part of the conversation is not left out or forgotten. —Sara Crane, Toronto, ON CK: It’s true that carbon dioxide emissions overshadow other greenhouse gas culprits like methane, which is actually much more potent. We’ve explored the importance of a plant-based…

Dear Prime Minister Carney, The convergence of this moment and your leadership gives us a rare chance to break free from the status quo. We cannot let this golden opportunity to make Canada a beacon for the world slip through our fingers. Like a championship hockey team, Team Canada Inc. has all the right ingredients – talent, capital and resources – to win big on the global stage. As Canada’s head coach, we’re counting on you to channel the wisdom and boldness of our hockey legends, making the tough calls so we can finally deliver on Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s century-old promise that the 20th century would be the century of Canada. That can be true for the century we’re in now, if we avoid getting stuck in the past with…

Prime Minister Mark Carney rode to victory in Canada’s federal election on April 28 while offering two seemingly contradictory promises: supporting Canada’s oil and gas industry while confronting climate change. In his first act as prime minister in March, Carney sent a clear signal that he wants to move past the divisive debates on energy and climate change that prevailed under Justin Trudeau, who stepped down in January. After winning the Liberal leadership race to replace him, Carney immediately axed the consumer portion of the carbon tax, which had been a rich target for Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre. Carney’s go-to campaign phrase on energy is, in fact, borrowed from former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, who vowed to make Canada an “energy superpower.” Carney has broadened that ambition to…

Economic uncertainty can derail many a promising company, and since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, the business landscape has been mired in paralyzing doubt. Since early March, Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs – and threats of more of them – have disrupted global supply chains, and companies around the world are scrambling to minimize impacts on their businesses. At the same time, the Trump administration is pursuing major cuts to U.S. government programs, including incentives meant to drive the country’s transition to clean energy. All of this turmoil has roiled financial markets, threatened higher inflation and slower growth, and made investors leery of risking their money. For tech companies in Canada, the combination of trade war and Trump’s opposition to action on climate change can be deadly. Morgan…

In the first week of Canada’s 2025 federal election campaign, both the Liberal and Conservative parties unveiled personal income tax cuts sold as providing relief to Canadians staring down the threat of both tariffs and economic annexation emanating from the White House. While putting a tax cut in the window is standard fare for Canadian political campaigns, the focus ignores a largely invisible tax on everyday Canadians and a growing threat to the future of Canada as an independent nation: monopolies. Before the election of Donald Trump in the United States, Canada was set to have an affordability election, driven primarily by the cost of housing and the prices shoppers saw on grocery store shelves. Grocery prices became a political flashpoint, with supermarket CEOs appearing before Parliament to justify their…