Canada’s provincial securities commissions have suspended their work aimed at making climate-related disclosure mandatory for public companies, the latest in a years-long series of delays in efforts to formalize reporting environmental risks. Canadian Securities Administrators, the commissions’ umbrella group, said it is also pausing amendments to required diversity rules the group had planned. It blamed both suspensions on the changing “global economic and geopolitical landscape.” The moves are a setback for the environmental, social and governance movement, which has been overshadowed by economic and trade worries among Canadian companies and a backlash in the United States fanned by President Donald Trump’s administration. Stan Magidson, chair of both the CSA and the Alberta Securities Commission, said the companies are struggling with increased economic uncertainty and concerns about competitiveness amid the cross-border friction. “In response, the CSA is focusing on initiatives to make Canadian markets more competitive, efficient and resilient,” Mr. Magidson said in a statement. Many institutional investors have been calling for some form of mandatory reporting of carbon emissions, targets and risks so they can get an accurate picture of physical and policy-related issues that companies face. The halt is “extremely disappointing,” given how quickly many other jurisdictions around the world are implementing climate disclosure rules, said Barbara Zvan, chief executive officer of University Pension Plan Ontario. Canada would improve its competitiveness in the race for capital by proceeding with the initiative, she said. Ms. Zvan was a member of the Ottawa-appointed Sustainable Finance Action Council, which more than two years ago called for sustainability disclosure, aligned with international standards, to be made mandatory across the economy. “This is done because it’s material risk assessment, and yet we’re saying there’s no rush. But the rest of the world is moving forward,” she said. Meanwhile, Canadian leaders are calling for more foreign investment and for the country’s large pension plans to invest more at home, Ms. Zvan added. In December, many observers assumed formalized reporting requirements were close when the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board released its first set of voluntary disclosure guidelines for companies to follow. The CSSB was formed to tailor rules developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board for the Canadian economy. The CSA said it would study the CSSB’s guidelines to determine what a set of required rules may include. That plan was expected to push beyond a series of previous halted attempts, though recent market uncertainty raised questions about timing. On the diversity front, the regulators were working on a policy for companies to go beyond the current rules for gender diversity to address how Indigenous people, racialized people, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ people are represented on boards of directors and executive officer ranks. Companies that have already put work into adopting the CSSB standards will be frustrated with the CSA’s pause, said Katie Dunphy, ESG reporting leader for KPMG. However, the regulator has left the door open for the efforts to resume later, she said. “As we continue to see the climate disruption and climate events, in my opinion, we will see an evolution of this, and perhaps when the timing is more appropriate for Canadian businesses to address this head-on,” Ms. Dunphy said. For its part, the CSSB pointed out that its recently released guidelines are closely aligned with international standards that are aimed at setting a global baseline for climate and sustainability reporting. Those standards are being widely adopted. “We recognize that regulatory approaches may evolve in response to market conditions, but the demand for credible, comparable sustainability information continues to grow – both globally and at home," said Wendy Berman, CSSB’s incoming chair. The moves on Wednesday follow other measures the CSA adopted earlier this month aimed at bolstering corporate competitiveness in the face of economic uncertainty. The group said it was reducing regulatory burdens and costs for raising capital and launching initial public offerings. Kevin Thomas, CEO of the Shareholder Association for Research and Education, an investor advocacy group, said reducing unnecessary burdens is beneficial for both companies and investors. “But let’s be smart about it. Forgoing new rules on climate disclosures just shifts that burden onto investors who have to make best guesses about their exposure to climate-related risks, and it makes our markets less attractive to the global capital we need now more than ever to grow our economy,” he said.