ESG

GRI Builds Network to Advance "Sustainability" Agenda

April 14, 2016

In a recent press release, the Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") explains how it works with a network of UN agencies, governments, stock exchanges, and other organizations to pressure businesses to engage in reporting on and fulfillment of the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals.
EU Proposes Country-by-Country Corporate Tax Reporting

April 14, 2016

Politico reports that a European Commission proposal would require multinational companies operating in the EU with a turnover exceeding EUR 750 million to report taxes they pay and other financial information for each EU country in which they operate and for every country outside the EU that, according to the Commission, does not "abide by tax good governance standards."
NGO: Governments Must Force Banks to Respect BHR Agenda

April 14, 2016

The German nongovernmental organization Facing Finance has published a report asserting that banks have failed at self-regulation on business and human rights ("BHR") and environmental issues and calling on governments to impose BHR and environmental reporting requirements on financial companies.
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.