ESG

S&P Threatens Bank Credit Downgrades for Climate Inaction

May 13, 2016

Website Climate Home reports that credit rating agency S&P has threatened to lower its rating of banks that fail to take into account the risks of climate change in their funding of fossil fuel and energy projects.
Norway Wealth Fund Pushes Energy Companies on Reporting

May 13, 2016

Reuters reports that the world's largest sovereign wealth fund Norges Bank has announced that it will vote for shareholder resolutions that would require oil and gas companies ExxonMobil and Chevron to publicly report how they are managing the risks of global warming to their operations.
UN Women's Rights Body Considers Swiss Financial Policies

May 11, 2016

A coalition of NGOs has successfully petitioned the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to seek information from the Government of Switzerland, as part of its review of the country, on the impacts of the government's financial disclosure policies on the realization of the rights of women in foreign countries.
Bloomberg Publishes Financial Companies' Gender Data

May 11, 2016

Fortune reports that Bloomberg has published a Financial Services Gender Equality Index to provide ratings for potential investors on the commitment of participating financial companies to gender diversity and "women-friendly policies."
GRI Seeks Expansion of Reporting Agenda to Small Businesses

May 11, 2016

The Global Reporting Initiative has announced that it will use its partnership with the International Organisation of Employers to push its reporting standards on the UN's climate agreement and sustainability agenda among small and medium sized enterprises.
MEPs Seek Robust Non-Financial Reporting in EU Member States

May 05, 2016

Members of the European Parliament ("MEPs") Sergio Cofferati and Richard Howitt, who claim a role in the agreement of EU legislation that will require corporate reporting of social and environmental impacts, call for EU member states to go beyond the requirements of the Directive in imposing robust non-financial reporting requirements on businesses operating in their territory.
Attorney General Subpoenas Exxon's Contact with Civil Society

May 04, 2016

As a coordinated campaign continues among US state attorneys general to hold energy company ExxonMobil liable for allegedly false communications on the science of climate change, Attorney General of the US Virgin Islands Claude Walker has subpoenaed communications between Exxon and 90 organizations "engaged in research or advocacy" on global warming.
GRI Examines Materiality in Sustainability Reporting

May 04, 2016

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI"), in affiliation with investment specialist RobecoSAM, have published research scrutinizing whether reporting by companies on the social and environmental impacts of their operations matches the needs of investors and calls for businesses to use GRI's sustainability reporting standards to ensure the relevance of such reports.
GRI Encourages Expansive Action on UN Climate Goals

April 28, 2016

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") has called for businesses and governments to look beyond carbon emissions to address the "human rights" impacts of global warming in implementing the UN climate deal signed in New York last week and predicts that the UN will use GRI's reporting guidelines as its standard for government emissions reporting under the deal.
EU Ministers Seek Strong Response to "Panama Papers"

April 28, 2016

NDTV reports that, at recent talks in Amsterdam, national finance ministers from EU member states coalesced around a number of proposals in the wake of the release of off-shore financial information in the "Panama Papers" to shame so-called "tax havens" and require more reporting on taxes paid by companies throughout Europe and around the world.