UN-ESG

NGO Blames Supermarkets for Global Labor Rights Abuse

July 12, 2018

The nongovernmental organization Oxfam has launched a campaign pressuring major supermarket chains to end “brutal working conditions” and labor rights violations in their global supply chains and “to radically improve transparency around their food sourcing policies.”
GRI Receives Post on EU Sustainable Finance Group

July 11, 2018

The European Commission has appointed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an organization that pressures companies around the world to publicly disclose their handling of the social and environmental issues, to its Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance that will aim to align European investments with the goal of a “greener, more equitable economy.”
Stock Exchange Federation Releases Sustainability Reporting Guide

July 11, 2018

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has applauded the World Federation of Exchanges’ publication of revised sustainability guidance for its member stock exchanges, setting out 30 environmental, social, and governance metrics on the basis of which companies should publicly disclose their social and environmental impacts.
NGO Calls for Disclosure of Extractives Deals

June 28, 2018

The nongovernmental organization Oxfam has called for all extractives companies to commit to publish the terms of their oil, gas, and mining contracts with governments to expose potentially corrupt deals and provide fodder for civil society criticism that these companies are not doing enough to fund economic and social rights in the countries in which they operate.
UK Seeks Data from Territories on Corporate Ownership

June 28, 2018

Liz Heron writes that the UK government has ordered overseas territories to publish registers of the beneficial ownership of companies within their borders before the end of 2020 to prevent corporate and individual tax avoidance.
NGO Seeks Government Oversight on Minerals Sourcing

June 25, 2018

Juliane Kippenberg of Human Rights Watch writes that a recent summit discussing the implementation of OECD guidelines on minerals sourcing was an important opportunity to place pressure on governments to monitor business implementation of the guidelines to ensure companies are refraining from funding rights violations in their global supply chains.
GRI Partners with Forum on Child Rights Reporting

June 06, 2018

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has signed an agreement with the Global Child Forum, through which stakeholders explore how best to fulfill the UN Children's Rights Convention, to cooperate on "driving corporate action to improve the lives of children" through GRI's corporate reporting framework on "sustainability" issues.
NGO Seeks Larger State Role in Minerals Due Diligence

June 01, 2018

Human Rights Watch has called for a more robust government role across the globe in forcing companies to comply with guidance from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on how to perform "due diligence" to address potential human rights abuses in their minerals supply chains.
Massachusetts Court Permits Demand for Exxon Records

May 31, 2018

Illustrating the progression of a set of US state investigations against energy companies over global warming, Reuters reports that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that the state's Attorney General has jurisdiction to demand private records from Exxon to determine whether the company misled consumers regarding the risks of climate change.
NGO Seeks ABA Support of Corporate Transparency Law

May 21, 2018

Amol Mehra of the nongovernmental organization International Corporate Accountability Roundtable calls on the American Bar Association (ABA) to withdraw its opposition to a bill in the US Congress that would require companies to disclose their ownership to the government to facilitate law-enforcement investigations aimed at enforcing US money-laundering laws.