Stakeholder Capitalism

SEC Rejects Apple's Exclusion of Human Rights Resolution

January 10, 2018

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sent a letter to Apple opposing the tech company's move to exclude from a shareholder vote a resolution requiring the company to establish a "human rights committee" on the ground that the resolution was not "sufficiently significant" to Apple's business operations.
UNGC Pushes for Corporate Ambition on "Impact Assessments"

January 09, 2018

A year-end statement from the Executive Director of UN Global Compact (UNGC) Lise Kingo reviews the UNGC's efforts in pressuring businesses to comply with the global human rights agenda and calls on companies to step up their performance of human rights impact assessments to ensure they are protecting rights "across the full spectrum of business activities."
OECD Pressures Canada on Action Against Fossil Fuels

January 09, 2018

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has issued an Environmental Performance Review for Canada that pushes the country's government to increase taxes on fossil fuel use and coordinate "carbon pricing" systems to impose higher costs on energy companies that fail to comply with the global agenda against climate change.
Companies Face Funding Demands Under Bangladesh Accord

January 08, 2018

Global union groups IndustriALL and UNI have reached a settlement with two fashion brands at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague for funding to remedy fire and building safety issues in the factories of Bangladesh clothing suppliers under an agreement signed by leading fashion brands to fund remediation of such issues after a Bangladesh factory disaster in 2013.
Observer Calls for Independent Australian NCP

January 05, 2018

Business and human rights (BHR) adviser Alex Newton has published a report arguing that the Australia is failing to fulfill its international obligations to the BHR agenda through its National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and calling on the government to enhance the NCP's independence.
NGOs Seek Stronger Peer Review of NCPs

January 05, 2018

A group of nongovernmental organizations has published a summary of ongoing analysis regarding whether the "peer review process" of National Contact Points (NCPs) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises is sufficiently holding NCPs to account, calling for the process to push NCPs to provide more effective remedies to alleged victims of corporate conduct.
UN Group Warns of Lack of Independence of NCPs

January 02, 2018

A November blog post from the UN Working Group on business and human rights (BHR) issues calls on states to look to the provisions of the UN Guiding Principles on BHR in reforming their National Contact Points (NCPs) of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises to ensure these NCPs are independent and provide effective remedies for alleged BHR violations.
NGO Campaign Seeks Strengthened OECD Contact Points

December 29, 2017

The nongovernmental organization OECD Watch has launched a "Remedy Campaign" pushing national governments to heighten the visibility of their National Contact Points for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and strengthen their authority to sanction companies they find have violated the Guidelines.
UN Agencies Launch Corporate "Playbook" on Climate Action

December 28, 2017

At a side event of the UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany, in November, a group of UN agencies urged business leaders to push their governments for more stringent commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and launched a "Climate Action Playbook" to guide businesses on how to ramp up their climate and "sustainability" commitments.
OECD Pushes Bank to Cut Carbon Funding

December 13, 2017

According to the website Climate Liability News, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) responded favorably to a complaint from four nongovernmental organizations calling on Dutch bank ING to measure and cut its contributions to companies that produce greenhouse gas emissions.