ESG

Proposal Seeks Mandatory EU Conflict Minerals Reporting

July 28, 2015

Dynda Thomas of Squire Patton Boggs writes that a proposal from the European Parliament would require nearly 900,000 European companies to issue public reports on their use of conflict minerals from war-torn areas in their products and would not provide a geographic limitation on the source of minerals that trigger the requirement.
NGOs Seek EU Measure on Tax Reporting

July 22, 2015

Two nongovernmental organization ("NGO") representatives have published an article in which they call for the European Parliament to adopt a measure seeking to require multinational corporations to report on their profits and taxes paid on a country-by-country basis, in order to cut down on alleged "tax dodging" by businesses.
Panel at UN Event Calls for Climate Finance Rules

July 21, 2015

At a recent UN event, panelists called for governments around the world to adopt new rules for financial institutions, including environmental reporting requirements, that they argued would drive forward substantial private funding of the UN's climate change agenda.
MEPs Develop Comprehensive EU Product Reporting Proposals

July 15, 2015

The Guardian reports that a group of Members of the European Parliament ("MEPs") have developed a proposal for requirements, by the year 2019, for industries across the bloc to report on the environmental footprint of all their products, as officials seek to create "binding targets on resource efficiency."
Denmark Transposes EU Reporting Requirements

July 15, 2015

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") has announced that the Danish Government is the first to transpose the EU corporate non-financial reporting directive, which requires companies to report on their social and environmental impacts, into national law, and has applauded Denmark for permitting businesses to issue their reports using GRI guidelines.
GRI Highlights BHR Principles in Reporting Standards

July 15, 2015

Demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between the UN and civil society on the business and human rights ("BHR") agenda, the Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") has published a press release indicating how it has integrated the UN Guiding Principles on BHR ("BHR") in the reporting standards it issues for companies around the world.
US Pushes Sustainability Agenda with GRI

July 15, 2015

The US State Department and the Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") recently hosted a roundtable session seeking to place pressure on companies to adopt the UN sustainability agenda and to promote consideration of social and environmental issues in company supply chains.
Business Leaders Support Reporting on UN Empowerment Principles

July 14, 2015

UN Women reports that one thousand business leaders have expressed support for the entity's Women's Empowerment Principles, which include a principle requiring benchmarks and reporting on gender equality and inclusion in corporate operations.
Article Indicates Difficulty of Conflict Minerals Compliance

July 09, 2015

Journalist Hailey Lynne McKeefry writes that technology companies, which are investigating their African supply chains to fulfill their legal responsibilities to report on their use of "conflict minerals" under the US Dodd-Frank Act, are finding it more difficult to comply with the regulation than expected.
GRI Pushes Sustainability Reporting Through Stock Exchanges

July 08, 2015

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") recently partnered with the BSE (formerly the Bombay Stock Exchange) to host an event for business leaders in Mumbai calling for stock exchanges to promote the reporting of nonfinancial environmental and social information by businesses.