ESG

NGO Pushes WEF to Seek "Justice" for Corporate Conduct

January 29, 2018

The nongovernmental organization Greenpeace has marked the beginning of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, by releasing a report accusing various global companies of environmental destruction and human rights abuses and calling on world leaders to prevent these harms by imposing mandatory reporting and other policies on businesses.
NGO Pushes Mandatory Climate Reporting in Sweden

January 29, 2018

A report from the nongovernmental organization Swedwatch warns Swedish fund managers that they are failing to invest enough in climate-friendly projects to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord and calls on the Swedish government to introduce a law requiring finance actors to publicly disclose their efforts toward a greener portfolio.
GRI Series Targets "Sustainability" Reporting in Food Industry

January 24, 2018

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and a group of civil society and academic partners have launched a Materiality Roundtable Series to guide businesses and investors on how to properly report and evaluate their impacts on "sustainable development" in the food and agriculture sectors.
GRI Establishes Review Service for Corporate Disclosures

January 17, 2018

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has launched a Disclosure Review Service through which it will evaluate corporate reports produced using GRI's Sustainability Reporting Standards to ensure they contain information helpful to readers in determining whether these companies are contributing to the global "sustainable development" agenda.
GRI Calls for Companies to Report on Poverty Alleviation

January 17, 2018

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has published a paper containing recommendations on how businesses should include information regarding their efforts to alleviate poverty in public reports on their contributions to the "sustainable development" agenda.
Australian Companies Face Legislative Push for Labor Reporting

January 16, 2018

An article in The Sydney Morning Herald highlights the concerns from some retail businesses regarding the scope of and penalties contained in a proposal for an Australian law that would require large companies to publicly report their efforts to rid their global supply chains of forced labor.
Corporate Initiative Counters Climate Lawsuits

January 09, 2018

The Washington Examiner reports that the National Association of Manufacturers has announced a new legal initiative, called the Manufacturers' Accountability Project, through which it will counter litigation from activist groups and government officials pushing a broad new theory of "public nuisance" to sue manufacturers for their alleged contributions to global warming.
EU Committee Calls for Permanent Panel on Tax Evasion

January 08, 2018

Joe Kirwin reports that the European Parliament's investigative committee on the Panama Papers has called for the creation of a permanent panel to probe alleged tax evasion by multinational companies and the adoption of regulations and mandatory public reporting to prevent banks and accounting firms from helping businesses escape taxes within the EU.
GRI Touts 2017 Progress on "Sustainability" Standards

January 05, 2018

In a year-end review, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) explained its introduction of corporate reporting standards on the UN's "sustainable development" agenda to companies around the world and previewed its launch in 2018 of new "sustainability" standards on water, occupational health and safety, and corporate taxation.
Analysis Roots out Gaps in EU Non-Financial Reporting

January 05, 2018

Law organization Frank Bold has published an analysis of the implementation of the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive in the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, finding that, while the new rules have extended corporate non-financial reporting in each country, governments must be clearer about which data is "material" and must therefore be included in reports.