ESG

GRI Launches SDGs Program in South Asia

July 31, 2017

The Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) South Asian hub and the Confederation of Indian Industry ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development have launched a two-year program pressuring businesses in the region to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) throughout their supply chains.
Reporting Initiatives Collaborate on "Sustainability" Agenda

July 31, 2017

Two major organizations that push corporate "sustainability" reporting, the Global Reporting Initiative and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, recently discussed their collaboration on initiatives allowing investors and a wide variety of other "stakeholders" access to information on companies' environmental and human rights impacts.
Insurance Network Supports Climate Risk Disclosure

July 27, 2017

The Sustainable Insurance Forum, an international network of insurance supervisors and regulators, has announced its support of recommendations from a task force of the G20 Financial Stability Board calling for the analysis and disclosure of “climate risks and opportunities” in insurance investments.
Committee Pushes EU Standards for Private Security

July 27, 2017

Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament have approved a resolution calling for the development of EU minimum standards for private security companies that include rules requiring accountability, screening, and reporting of misconduct.
Airports Seek Certification for Climate Action

July 26, 2017

Travel Daily News reports that the Airport Carbon Accreditation program is reporting a growing number of airports around the world obtaining certification under its initiative by monitoring and addressing their greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the global agenda on combating climate change.
Campaign Pressures Investors on Climate Risk Management

July 25, 2017

The Guardian reports that, as part of the expanding agenda pushing financial institutions to publicly disclose the risks climate change poses to their portfolios, the Asset Owner Disclosure Project recently released an index rating asset owners and managers on a scale from "laggards" to "leaders" on how they manage financial risks related to global warming.
Businesses Push G20 on Climate Disclosure

July 25, 2017

At an April World Economic Forum meeting in Geneva, a group of CEOs called on leaders from the Group of 20 countries (G20) to act on the findings of the global Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure by expanding pressure on financial companies to publicly report the risks that global warming poses to their investments.
UN Agent Investigates Tax Avoidance in Panama

July 25, 2017

In May, the UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky visited Panama to investigate how the country is handling "illicit financial flows" from businesses and individuals following the revelations of tax avoidance in the so-called "Panama Papers" leaked in 2015.
Article: Counsel Must Play Role in "Corporate Citizenship"

July 21, 2017

An article from former General Electric Vice President and General Counsel Ben Heineman paints a broad picture of the need for general counsel to steer their corporations toward a concept of "corporate citizenship" resembling the "environmental, social, and governance" responsibilities recommended for businesses by UN agencies and activist groups.
Paper: Business-led Reporting Schemes Are Ineffective

July 21, 2017

A group of academics has published a paper warning that the growing activist movement, beginning to take hold in the form of government regulation, toward business audits of their global supply chains to monitor and report environmental and human rights impacts is ineffective and merely serves as an "industry-led privatization of global governance."