OSC To Focus On Environmental Disclosure By Reporting Issuers

In an earlier Securities Law Update (http://stikeman.com/cps/rde/xchg/se-en/hs.xsl/12075.htm) we reported that against the backdrop of investors' concerns regarding climate change considerations and increasing regulation to combat greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) released Staff Notice 51-716 - Environmental Reporting in February 2008, outlining the results of a targeted review to determine the degree to which reporting issuers were adequately disclosing "environmental matters". Similarly, in our September 2009 Emissions Trading & Climate Change Update (http://stikeman.com/cps/rde/xchg/se-en/hs.xsl/13067.htm) we reviewed the escalating significance of such considerations in light of numerous mandatory GHG reporting regimes that have recently been announced across North America.