Canadian climate governance and the U.S. anti-ESG backlash
Register
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Sep 24, 2026
12:00-1:00 PM EDT - Virtual
Canadian institutional investors have been global leaders in integrating climate-related financial risk into governance. But that leadership has been tested by the spillover effects of a powerful anti-ESG political movement in the United States.
U.S. asset managers have reduced support for climate-related proposals in Canadian firms they own, while Canadian pension funds face new political risks when using climate-based voting on U.S. holdings. Governance gaps also emerge when Canadian asset owners delegate portfolio management to U.S. managers whose practices no longer align with Canadian fiduciary obligations. Meanwhile, concerns about diverging from the U.S. have influenced the development of Canadian regulations.
However, Canada retains important strengths. Canadian corporate law allows directors to consider material ESG factors and stakeholder interests, providing greater flexibility than the U.S. shareholder primacy model.
Join the Institute for Sustainable Finance and the Canada Climate Law Initiative for this free online session presenting new research into this phenomenon. We’ll explore how Canada has been affected by the U.S. anti-ESG backlash and how investors and corporate directors can remain resilient to political and legal pressures while managing climate risk.
Moderator
Milla Craig
Founder and President, Millani Inc.
Milla Craig is Founder and President of Millani Inc., an independent advisory firm helping investors integrate ESG issues into their investment decisions and helping companies communicate their material ESG issues to investors. Prior to founding Millani in 2008, she worked for more than 15 years in the institutional equity markets for major Canadian financial institutions such as RBC Dominion Securities and Scotia Capital, where she was consistently ranked as a top-tier salesperson. Later, as Deloitte’s Leader – Sustainability, for the Quebec Region, she was actively involved in the development of sustainability strategy, management, stakeholder engagement, and reporting for a variety of Canadian organizations.
Panel Discussion
Julie Bernard
Research Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Finance
Julie is a Research Fellow with the Institute for Sustainable Finance at Smith School of Business, Queen's University and Assistant Professor of Sustainable Finance at the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED), University of Waterloo. She has expertise in shareholder activism with a special focus on proxy voting, ESG, and corporate governance. Julie holds a PhD in administrative sciences from Université Laval.
Yrjö Koskinen
Director of Research, Institute for Sustainable Finance
Yrjö is Director of Research with the Insitute for Sustainable Finance at Smith School of Business, Queen's University and BMO Professor of Sustainable and Transition Finance at the Haskayne School of Business. He served as the Associate Dean of Research and Business Impact from 2017 to 2022 at Haskayne. He has previously been a faculty member at Stockholm School of Economics, Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds an MSc degree in Economics from the University of Helsinki, and a PhD in Management (Finance) from INSEAD. Prior to his academic career, Yrjö worked as a financial journalist, asset manager and as an economist at the Bank of Finland.
Kirthana Singh Khurana
PhD student, Peter A. Allard School of Law
Kirthana is a PhD student at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, researching the integration of technology with corporate governance. She has published extensively in law journals and co-authored A Textbook of Legal Studies for Class XII (CBSE Board) for Indian schools. Before pursuing her PhD, Kirthana earned her Master of Laws degree from Yale Law School, where she was awarded the prestigious Chauncey I. Clark Scholarship.
Conor Chell
Partner, National Leader – Sustainability, Environment & Regulatory Law, KPMG Law Canada
At KPMG Law, Conor leads a collaborative, cross-functional and inter-disciplinary team of legal, sustainability, environmental and regulatory professionals who advise clients on regulatory & legal compliance, disclosure risks (e.g. greenwashing), environmental reporting (e.g. PFAS / Federal Plastics Registry) major project development (e.g. Bill C-5 / Building Canada Act), supply chain due diligence (e.g. modern slavery), and related policy development and training. Conor holds a Global Competent Boards Designation (GCB.D) in ESG and a Certificate in Sustainable Finance and ESG from UC Berkeley School of Law. Conor has been named a Top 40 Lawyer in Canada under the age of 40 by Lexis/Nexis, is listed as “Frequently Recommended” for ESG Law by Lexpert and has been twice named a Canadian Environmental Thought Leader by Mondaq.