UN-ESG

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.
UK Pledges Action for "Sustainable" Fashion

June 26, 2019

The UK Government has issued a response to a House of Commons Committee’s report on clothing consumption and sustainability pledging to use “regulatory and economic instruments” to address the environmental impacts of the fashion industry and to make producers responsible for the costs of disposal.
NGOs: French Companies Failed to Comply with “Duty of Vigilance”

June 19, 2019

A coalition of nongovernmental organizations has published a report criticizing French companies for their failure to fully comply with the country’s new “duty of vigilance” law and calling for the introduction of a binding global business and human rights (BHR) treaty to remedy shortcomings in BHR enforcement.
EC Introduces Guidelines for Corporate Climate Reporting

June 19, 2019

The European Commission (EC) has published guidelines on how businesses should publicly report their climate impacts as well as the impacts of the climate on their operations under the bloc’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive and welcomed the publication of three reports from an expert EU group on ramping up “sustainable finance.”
NGO Organizes Investor Call for Climate Reporting

June 18, 2019

Bloomberg reports that the Carbon Disclosure Project, a nongovernmental initiative that provides a framework for companies to report on their greenhouse gas emissions levels, has corralled a group of investors managing a combined $10 trillion in assets to pressure businesses to provide more information on their climate impacts.