Surveillance Capitalism

Norway Wealth Fund Implements BHR Agenda

April 06, 2016

Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway's sovereign wealth fund, has adopted a human rights policy requiring companies in which it invests to integrate a human rights strategy in their operations and to report on their performance, key tenets in the implementation of the UN's business and human rights ("BHR") agenda.
JPMorgan Limits Investments in Coal Projects

April 05, 2016

Website Clean Technica reports that financial company JPMorgan has acted in line with demands from UN officials and nongovernmental organizations by adding certain coal investments to the company's list of "Prohibited Transactions" in order to help combat global warming.
BP Implements Activists' BHR Agenda

April 01, 2016

The CEO of the nongovernmental organization Human Rights at Sea, David Hammond, has published an article highlighting how energy company BP, in the face of pressure from the UN and activists, has embraced the global business and human rights ("BHR") agenda, including by undertaking BHR due diligence and committing to external audits.
NGO Claims Victory as G4S Sells Stakes in Israel

March 30, 2016

The nongovernmental organization Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, which seeks to encourage the cutting of ties between businesses and Israeli territories in order to encourage change in the country's policies toward Palestine, is taking credit for the decision of British security company G4S to sell its operations in Israel.
Activists Use Business Tactics to Push Climate Agenda

March 29, 2016

An article on E&E Publishing demonstrates how activists seeking to further the UN's agenda on climate change have been using shareholder resolutions and pressure on financial companies over energy corporations in their stock portfolios to push businesses to limit their involvement in fossil fuels and to outline their efforts to prevent global warming.
Apple Issues $1.5 Billion "Green Bond"

March 23, 2016

The Guardian reports that, amid pressure from nongovernmental organizations and others to fund the global environmental agenda and report progress, technology company Apple has announced that it has issued a "green bond" through which it will seek $1.5 billion for environmentally friendly projects.
Under Pressure, University Divests from Private Prisons

March 16, 2016

CNN reports that, following pressure from the Afrikan Black Coalition, which argued that investments by the University of California ("UC") in private prison companies supported "white supremacist dehumanization" of minorities, UC has removed its investments from these businesses.
Gap Reports Compliance with UN Sustainability Agenda

March 10, 2016

Vikas Vij writes that, following its release of a "sustainability report" containing data on its compliance with the UN's environmental and social agendas, apparel company Gap Inc. has announced that it will further pursue the sustainability goals set out by the UN and activists by cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by fifty percent from 2015 levels by the year 2020.
California Emissions Tax Costs Billions

March 04, 2016

Bloomberg reports that California's "cap-and-trade" system, which effectively taxes businesses on the carbon emissions they release, is costing some energy companies hundreds of millions of dollars per year and the entire industry approximately $3 billion, most of which will likely be passed on to consumers.
NGOs Boycott EITI Meeting over "Civil Society" Representation

March 02, 2016

Demonstrating the difficulty of businesses to fully meet the financial transparency demands of nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs"), Publish What You Pay and other NGOs have boycotted a meeting of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ("EITI") in a dispute over the nomination of a civil society representative to the EITI International Board.