ESG

French Bill Seeks to Expand Foreign Access to Courts

February 04, 2015

A legislative proposal in the French Parliament would in effect require French corporations to perform due diligence on potential harms in their operations and could open the door to an increase in lawsuits by foreign nationals on business and human rights issues in the French courts.
NGO Pushes "Country by Country" Financial Reporting

January 28, 2015

Amid calls for an investigation of alleged Luxembourg tax breaks for the company Amazon, the nongovernmental organization ("NGO") Transparency International argues that such an investigation could have been avoided if the EU had adopted a "country by country" financial reporting requirement for companies.
GRI Forms "Leadership Groups" on Reporting Initiatives

January 21, 2015

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") reports that it is forming two "Corporate Leadership Groups" that will focus on how to advance the inclusion of reporting on "sustainability" - including social and environmental matters - in regular reporting by businesses.
CIGI Considers Global Governance of BHR in Finance Sector

December 24, 2014

A Centre for International Governance Innovation ("CIGI") report discusses how to improve the international Equator Principles for project finance, and other principles related to business and human rights ("BHR"), to better pressure financial institutions to advance the international BHR and environmental agenda.
Activists Praise U.K. Extractive Transparency Law

December 03, 2014

The nongovernmental organization Publish What You Pay has praised the U.K.'s enactment of legislation requiring companies in the extractive industry to report all payments to governments, as it argues the measure will pressure developing countries to provide more money for economic and social rights.
Turkish Stock Exchange Launches Sustainability Initiative

November 19, 2014

The Turkish stock exchange Borsa Istanbul has established a "sustainability index" that will evaluate how companies perform in their operations regarding such issues as climate change and human rights.
U.K. Joins International Extractive Transparency Initiative

October 22, 2014

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ("EITI") has accepted the U.K.'s application to become a candidate country in the initiative, which will bind the Government to report the revenues it receives from oil, gas, and mineral companies and to require financial reporting from these companies.
Activists Call for Global Governance of Corporate Reporting

October 17, 2014

Citing a study's findings that a low number of large corporations around the world report how they advance the "sustainability" agenda, some activists are calling for the development of consistent reporting standards in a global body to push businesses to publicize this information.
U.K. Announces Corporate Reporting on Supply Chain Labor Rights

October 17, 2014

The British Government has announced the development of a bill that will require U.K. businesses to report on the steps they have taken to make their supply chains free of forced labor.
DIHR Seeks to Standardize Corporate Impact Assessments

October 15, 2014

The Danish Institute for Human Rights ("DIHR") has published a paper promoting "best practices" among businesses in performing due diligence on human rights through impact assessments of their operations and those of actors in their supply chains.