UN-ESG

Unilever Drives Forward Human Rights Reporting Initiative

September 24, 2014

As pressure from the UN and nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs") mounts on businesses to respond to international business and human rights principles, the NGO Shift has announced its partnership with the multinational company Unilever to develop a corporate reporting framework on human rights.
UN Pushes Business Leaders on Carbon Policies

September 24, 2014

At the recent climate summit in New York, the UN Global Compact called for businesses to abide by its "Business Leadership Criteria on Carbon Pricing," under which companies must integrate carbon pricing into their business strategies and issue public reports on their progress.
U.K. Imposes Payment Reporting Requirements on Businesses

August 27, 2014

The U.K. Government has announced new rules requiring, as of January 2015, mining, gas, and oil companies registered in Britain to report payments made to government in all countries in which they operate.
GRI, China Launch CSR Initiative

August 06, 2014

At a conference in Beijing, the Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") and the State Information Center of China launched the China Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") Monitoring and Evaluation System to pressure Chinese businesses to abide by and report on their performance regarding CSR in their operations.
NGOs Push for Mandatory EU Conflict Mineral Due Diligence

July 23, 2014

In response to a European Commission proposal for voluntary corporate reporting on conflict minerals from war-torn countries, a group of nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs") is pushing the European Parliament to adopt stricter standards that require mitigation of the use of such minerals.
Article Calls for Expanded Mandate on "Sustainability Reporting"

July 18, 2014

Professors Adam Sulkowski and Sandra Waddock call for governments to broadly interpret current corporate reporting laws to require reporting on human rights, environmental impacts, and other issues and to provide more explicit standards mandating that companies report on "sustainability" in their operations.
Shift Calls for Embedding of Human Rights Culture in Corporations

July 14, 2014

The nongovernmental organization Shift has published guidance on steps it believes corporations should take to embed human rights due diligence, including reporting on and protecting human rights in business operations, in company culture.
Corporate Reporting Organizations Form Joint Initiative

July 11, 2014

A group of organizations that seek to standardize corporate reporting in a variety of areas, including climate and financial accounting, recently launched the Corporate Reporting Dialogue in Amsterdam to increase "integrated reporting" on such issues by businesses around the world.
Committee Drafts International Standard on Security Providers

July 11, 2014

The International Organization for Standardization has created a new "Project Committee" to develop a set of standards it will push private security providers to follow with regard to human rights and humanitarian law.
NGO Criticizes Conflict Minerals Reporting as Insufficient

July 10, 2014

As U.S. companies release their first legally required reports on the use of "conflict minerals" from war-torn areas in Africa in their products, the nongovernmental organization ("NGO") Global Witness has complained that these reports do not sufficiently assess companies' use of these minerals.