ESG

Germany Fines Facebook over “Hate Speech” Reporting

July 03, 2019

Politico reports that the German government has fined Facebook €2 million for failing to adequately report the number of complaints the social-media giant received relating to “hate speech” on its platform.
Standard Setters Publish Shared Principles of Corporate Reporting

July 03, 2019

A group of organizations that provide standards for corporate reporting, including the Global Reporting Initiative, has published a paper stressing the common, “fundamental” principles they believe must undergird all corporate reporting and the need for businesses to demonstrate accountability to a variety of “stakeholders.”
ISO Committee Develops Standards for “Circular Economy”

June 26, 2019

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has formed a technical committee to develop an internationally agreed framework regarding how organizations should contribute to a “circular economy” in which all resources are reused or regenerated.
EC Body Seeks Exclusion of Coal, Nuclear Power from Finance Framework

June 26, 2019

The European Commission’s (EC) Technical Expert Group on sustainable finance has published recommendations calling on the EC to exclude coal and nuclear power projects from classification as sustainable investments.
UK Pledges Action for "Sustainable" Fashion

June 26, 2019

The UK Government has issued a response to a House of Commons Committee’s report on clothing consumption and sustainability pledging to use “regulatory and economic instruments” to address the environmental impacts of the fashion industry and to make producers responsible for the costs of disposal.
NGOs: French Companies Failed to Comply with “Duty of Vigilance”

June 19, 2019

A coalition of nongovernmental organizations has published a report criticizing French companies for their failure to fully comply with the country’s new “duty of vigilance” law and calling for the introduction of a binding global business and human rights (BHR) treaty to remedy shortcomings in BHR enforcement.
EC Introduces Guidelines for Corporate Climate Reporting

June 19, 2019

The European Commission (EC) has published guidelines on how businesses should publicly report their climate impacts as well as the impacts of the climate on their operations under the bloc’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive and welcomed the publication of three reports from an expert EU group on ramping up “sustainable finance.”
NGO Organizes Investor Call for Climate Reporting

June 18, 2019

Bloomberg reports that the Carbon Disclosure Project, a nongovernmental initiative that provides a framework for companies to report on their greenhouse gas emissions levels, has corralled a group of investors managing a combined $10 trillion in assets to pressure businesses to provide more information on their climate impacts.
Investors Support Swiss Corporate “Due Diligence” Legislation

June 12, 2019

The Ethos Foundation, an organization seeking to support “socially responsible investment,” and a group of institutional investors have called on the lower house of the Swiss Parliament to support legislation imposing “mandatory human rights due diligence” obligations on Swiss businesses.
South Africa Introduces Carbon Tax to Meet UN Climate Pledges

June 05, 2019

The saga of South Africa’s attempt to introduce a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, ultimately enacted at the end of May to help the country meet its pledges under the UN’s Paris climate deal, highlights producer concerns about the impacts of such taxes on energy prices.