Even amid pushback on ESG, expectations for companies to help solve global challenges are rising — not retreating. A new TSX 60 Social Purpose Report Card shows that nearly half of Canada’s biggest firms have now embraced a social purpose, but governance is lagging behind. Without board-level accountability, purpose risks stalling at the level of aspiration rather than action.
The business world is at a turning point. Even amid backlash against ESG, expectations for companies to play a broader role in society are not diminishing — they are accelerating. As global risks such as climate disruption, inequality, and geopolitical instability converge, businesses are increasingly called upon to adopt a purpose beyond profit and help tackle society’s pressing challenges.
A new study, the TSX 60 Social Purpose Report Card, shows that this shift is beginning to take root in corporate Canada — though unevenly. The Canadian Purpose Economy Project (CPEP), which works to build the conditions for social purpose business to become the norm, assessed whether companies in the TSX 60 Index, some of Canada’s largest publicly traded firms, have articulated a social purpose as their reason for being.
A Growing but Incomplete Shift
The results are promising: 24 of the 60 companies (40%) were found to have a public-facing social purpose statement on their website or in their annual reports. Collectively, these firms represent nearly half of the TSX 60’s total market capitalization, or about $1.5 trillion. This signals that purpose is no longer confined to niche firms — it is gaining traction in Canada’s corporate mainstream.
At the same time, the majority of companies (60%) either have no publicly declared purpose statement at all or one that falls short of a genuine social purpose. Nearly half had no discernible purpose, while eight had statements that were focused on providing products or serving customers, or were too narrow, vague, or self-referential to qualify as a social purpose.
Sectoral differences are also striking. Energy and financial institutions — two of the index’s most heavily represented sectors — each show 50% adoption rates. All three telecom firms are on board. Yet in mining, none of the six TSX 60 companies articulated a clear social purpose. These gaps highlight both the momentum and the challenges of embedding purpose across Canada’s economy.
Photo credit: Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
