Contribute to Canonical ESG
Canonical ESG is an open semantic infrastructure initiative for sustainability disclosure modelling.
We welcome structured contributions from practitioners, researchers, technologists, and standards experts who value rigor, clarity, and long-term interoperability.
Canonical ESG evolves through disciplined collaboration.
Why Contribute
Sustainability reporting today is fragmented across multiple frameworks, jurisdictions, and interpretive layers.
Canonical ESG exists to provide:
- Stable semantic disclosure intents (CDI)
- Cross-framework mapping infrastructure (CMP)
- Regulatory modelling across jurisdictions
- Version-safe extensibility
- Semantic equivalence analysis across standards
Contributors help:
- Strengthen semantic precision
- Expand framework coverage
- Stress-test cross-framework mappings
- Identify structural inconsistencies
- Improve regulatory modelling architecture
This is infrastructure work.
Who Should Contribute
We welcome contributions from:
- ESG and sustainability reporting specialists
- ESRS technical practitioners
- ISSB / IFRS S1–S2 experts
- GRI specialists (Universal, 200, 300, 400)
- SASB standards practitioners
- CDP reporting professionals
- EU Taxonomy regulatory experts
- TNFD and biodiversity disclosure specialists
- RegTech engineers
- Semantic modelling researchers
- Accounting and assurance professionals
- Policy and regulatory analysts
Institutional affiliation is not required.
Rigor is.
Areas of Contribution
1. CDI Taxonomy Refinement
- Clarification proposals
- Semantic precision improvements
- Cross-domain consistency enhancements
- Future domain proposals (for CDI v2)
2. New Framework Coverage
- Additional voluntary standards
- Emerging regulatory regimes
- Jurisdiction-specific requirements
- Sector-specific disclosure regimes
3. Stress Testing & Equivalence Analysis
- Line-by-line framework comparison
- Conflict detection
- Coverage gap identification
- Cross-framework semantic reconciliation
4. Regulatory Modelling Enhancements
- Technical screening criteria modelling
- KPI architecture refinement
- Eligibility vs alignment logic modelling
- DNSH and safeguard modelling
5. Governance & Documentation
- Versioning architecture improvements
- Schema validation refinement
- Contribution governance proposals
Contribution Principles
All contributions must align with Canonical ESG's core principles:
- Framework Independence
- Semantic Stability
- Non-Authoritativeness
- Regulatory Neutrality
- Explicit Scope Boundaries
- Version Safety
Canonical ESG does not create legal interpretations.
It models structure — not compliance.
How to Contribute
Step 1 — Review the Architecture
Before submitting a proposal, review:
- CDI Taxonomy (v1)
- CMP Schema
- Global CMPs
- Jurisdiction CMPs
- Version freeze declarations
Step 2 — Prepare a Structured Proposal
Your proposal should clearly state:
- Scope of change
- Affected CDI identifiers
- Relevant framework references
- Semantic justification
- Cross-framework impact analysis
- Backward compatibility assessment
Unstructured suggestions will not be evaluated.
Step 3 — Submit Proposal
Proposals may be submitted via:
- GitHub (preferred)
- Structured email submission
- Direct technical correspondence (by invitation)
Governance Model
Canonical ESG currently operates under a curated stewardship model.
- CDI v1 is frozen.
- Major semantic extensions require a new major version.
- CMPs may evolve without altering CDI semantics.
- All accepted changes are documented through version history.
As participation grows, governance formalisation will expand.
Early Contributor Participation
We are currently inviting early contributors to:
- Stress-test cross-framework mappings
- Review regulatory modelling architecture
- Participate in semantic equivalence analysis
- Shape the CDI v2 roadmap
Early contributors influence structural direction.
Contact for Contributions
For structured proposals:
hello@canonicalesg.org
GitHub repository: github.com/udaysxd/canonicalesg_open_architecture