UN-ESG

Article Seeks Mandatory Corporate Due Diligence in Australia

July 24, 2019

An academic and a researcher from a human rights NGO have published an article characterizing an Australian law requiring companies to report how they are addressing forced labor in their supply chains as “a step in the right direction” toward mandatory human rights due diligence regimes for businesses.
NGO Seeks German “Due Diligence” Law on Supply Chains

July 24, 2019

Citing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch has called on the German government to put in place a monitoring mechanism that would pressure companies to perform “due diligence” in addressing alleged rights violations in their supply chains.
GRI, CDP Push for Corporate Reporting on UN Climate Goals

July 24, 2019

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and climate reporting nonprofit CDP have published recommendations pressing businesses to align their corporate reporting practices with the pledges their governments made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the UN’s Paris climate accord.
UN Posts Green Climate Fund Resource on Data Portal

July 23, 2019

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has posted a Green Climate Fund Data module to its online portal that allows observers to track “climate finance” efforts, seeking to create a “one-stop open data source” for users to learn how the UN fund funnels global financing into achieving the Paris climate deal.
Investor Statement Pushes UN Line on Climate Reporting

July 23, 2019

Highlighting the impact of the UN’s and activists’ push for corporate action and reporting on global warming, a group of investors has published a call for governments to do more to implement the 2015 Paris climate agreement, including through emissions reduction and mandatory climate reporting by financial institutions.
NGOs Allege Lack of Compliance with French “Vigilance” Law

July 10, 2019

Nongovernmental organizations Sherpa and Terre Solidaire have developed a list of French companies they believe are subject to the country’s “duty of vigilance” law, finding that approximately one-quarter of these companies have not published reports on addressing rights impacts and lamenting the lack of a national monitoring mechanism.
Germany Fines Facebook over “Hate Speech” Reporting

July 03, 2019

Politico reports that the German government has fined Facebook €2 million for failing to adequately report the number of complaints the social-media giant received relating to “hate speech” on its platform.
Standard Setters Publish Shared Principles of Corporate Reporting

July 03, 2019

A group of organizations that provide standards for corporate reporting, including the Global Reporting Initiative, has published a paper stressing the common, “fundamental” principles they believe must undergird all corporate reporting and the need for businesses to demonstrate accountability to a variety of “stakeholders.”
ISO Committee Develops Standards for “Circular Economy”

June 26, 2019

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has formed a technical committee to develop an internationally agreed framework regarding how organizations should contribute to a “circular economy” in which all resources are reused or regenerated.
EC Body Seeks Exclusion of Coal, Nuclear Power from Finance Framework

June 26, 2019

The European Commission’s (EC) Technical Expert Group on sustainable finance has published recommendations calling on the EC to exclude coal and nuclear power projects from classification as sustainable investments.