ESG

HP Pledges 100 Percent Renewable Energy

April 13, 2016

Demonstrating the pressure on businesses from activists and international organizations to commit to goals to prevent climate change, technology company HP has pledged to implement the UN climate change and sustainability agendas through a move to 100 percent renewable electricity in its operations.
Litigants Seek Corporate Liability for Supply-Chain Forced Labor

April 13, 2016

The nongovernmental organization Human Rights First has published an update on recent litigation in which plaintiffs have attempted to use a California law requiring corporate reporting on efforts to end forced labor in their supply chains and the US Alien Tort Statute to hold US businesses liable for connections to foreign companies that use forced labor.
UK Commissioner Outlines Supply Chain Reporting Requirements

April 12, 2016

UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commission Kevin Hyland has published an open letter to British businesses stressing the need for transparency and a "proactive approach" by large businesses using their bargaining power to comply with a new law seeking to eliminate human trafficking and modern slavery throughout corporate supply chains.
NGO Guide Highlights Complexity of Supply Chain Forced Labor

April 12, 2016

A guide from the nongovernmental organization Sedex on how auditors and businesses can root out forced labor in their supply chains spotlights the complexity for companies in determining whether working conditions at a supplier amount to "extreme forms of exploitation" that could lead to liability.
GRI Maintains Push for Companies to Implement SDGs

April 11, 2016

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") has called for businesses to go "beyond reporting" and contribute to the fulfillment of the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs") for the year 2030 in part by embracing changes required for "sustainable consumption and production."
EU Commissioner Seeks Corporate Tax Clampdown

April 11, 2016

European Commissioner for taxation Pierre Moscovici has elaborated the Commission's plans for halting corporate tax avoidance, including by imposing entry and exit taxes for the shifting of corporate earnings to low-tax countries, country-by-country reporting of financial figures, and an exchange of tax information by EU member states.
US Forces Exxon Vote on Climate Resolution

April 11, 2016

Reuters reports that, rejecting the energy company's claims that it already provides sufficient disclosure on its greenhouse gas emissions, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has denied Exxon's request to keep a resolution that would require full disclosure of the risks of climate change to the company from a shareholder vote.
ISO Publishes Standard on Environmental Statements

April 11, 2016

The International Organization for Standardization ("ISO") has published a new edition of a standard, aimed in part at pushing for more environmentally friendly production techniques, that seeks to standardize statements on product labels containing assertions on the product's environmental impact.
NGO Launches UNGP Reporting Database

April 07, 2016

Nongovernmental organization Shift has developed a UN Guiding Principles ("UNGP") Reporting Database in which it compile information from corporate websites and reports relating to their implementation of the UN's business and human rights agenda.
UN Pushes Sustainability Reporting by Small Companies

April 06, 2016

The UN Global Compact has announced an initiative through which it will support efforts by companies with fewer than 250 employees in publicly reporting their progress in implementing the UN's "sustainable development" agenda.