UN-ESG

Unilever Publishes Palm-Oil Supply Chain

March 08, 2018

The Thomson Reuters Foundation reports that consumer-goods company Unilever has revealed its entire supply chain relating to palm oil, ratcheting up pressure on other companies with multinational networks to publicly report on their suppliers and efforts to force their business partners to abide by global social and environmental standards.
UN Entity Calls for Development of "SDG Bonds"

March 05, 2018

The UN Global Compact recently hosted a symposium in California focused on the development of "Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Bonds" to be issued by corporate and sovereign entities with the aim of promoting the diversion of investment funds into the fulfillment of the UN's comprehensive SDG agenda.
Activists Seek Blockchain Use in DRC Supply Chains

March 05, 2018

A report from CNBC Africa on the use of blockchain technology to track cobalt from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to its inclusion in batteries in electronics demonstrates the growing pressure on businesses to use the online technology to exclude certain minerals associated with human rights violations, including child labor, from their supply chains.
NGOs Seek Ejection of Energy Companies from EITI Board

February 15, 2018

A group of nongovernmental organizations have called on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a program pushing oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose their payments to governments, to eject energy companies ExxonMobil and Chevron from the EITI board for not publicly reporting tax payments they made in the US.
GRI Praises Broad EU Corporate Reporting Mandates

February 15, 2018

A press release from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) praises EU member states that have gone further than required in implementing the EU's non-financial corporate reporting directive by mandating that all or nearly all companies, regardless of size, issue public reports on their environmental and human rights impacts.
NGOs Issue "Call to Action" on Jewelry Supply Chains

February 14, 2018

A group of human rights activist NGOs has called on companies in the jewelry industry to do more to implement the global business and human rights agenda by employing "robust" due-diligence systems and publicly reporting their efforts to address human rights and environmental impacts in their complex supply chains.
Business Coalition Seeks "Net Zero" Emissions by 2050

February 13, 2018

The global coalition of business, civil society, and labor leaders called the B Team has published a report assessing contributions of businesses to the fulfillment of the UN's climate change agenda and calling on companies to join an initiative aimed at achieving "net zero" emissions by the year 2050.
Chevron Questions Limited Scope of Cities' Climate Suit

February 08, 2018

Legal NewsLine reports that energy company Chevron has filed a third-party complaint against state-owned Norwegian oil company Statoil as it seeks to expand the scope of a lawsuit by various Californian municipalities alleging damages by a limited set of large oil and gas companies, including Chevron, related to their contribution to global warming.
GRI Pushes Small Businesses to Report on "Sustainability"

February 08, 2018

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has issued a press release explaining how its Competitive Business Program trains and coaches small and medium-sized enterprises in a set of developing countries how to publicly disclose their impacts on the global "sustainable development" agenda.
London Business School Plans Institute for Social Issues

February 07, 2018

Highlighting pressure from international organizations and nongovernmental groups on businesses to embrace the global "sustainability" agenda, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reports that the London Business School is setting up an institute to "harness the power of business" to solve social problems in developing countries.