UN-ESG

Report Finds Forced Labor in Nestle Supply Chain

December 16, 2015

As activist and government pressure on businesses to identify and address human-rights and environmental problems in their often-complex supply chains ramps up, a report commissioned by Nestle has found that portions of the food company's supply chain in Thailand uses forced labor.
UN Calls for Corporate Reporting on SDGs

December 16, 2015

The UN Environment Programme has published a report that argues companies are not sufficiently reporting their implementation of environmental and social provisions contained in the recently adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs") for 2030 and that calls on businesses to comply with international standards in their SDG reporting.
GRI Links Reporting Standards to UN's BHR Agenda

December 14, 2015

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") has published a document seeking to demonstrate how companies can comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ("BHR") by following GRI "G4" standards on public reporting of human rights and other information.
GRI Pushes Australian Companies on Climate Change

December 01, 2015

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") asserts that Australian companies, based on the information they publicly report, are not doing enough to manage risks related to global warming and has issued guidance on how these companies can report their implementation of the global "sustainability" agenda.
Consultant Pushes UK Law as Model for BHR Reporting

November 30, 2015

Steve Gibbons of business and human rights ("BHR") consultancy Ergon Associates writes that businesses should use recent UK legislation that will require companies to report on the use of forced labor in their supply chains as a model and an opportunity for increased public reporting on their implementation of global BHR standards.
GRI Creates Board on "Sustainability" Reporting

November 30, 2015

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") has launched its Global Sustainability Standards Board, made up of labor, civil society, business, and other representatives, to develop worldwide standards for companies to report their progress in implementing the UN's environmental and social agenda.
EU Committee Presses Companies on Tax Policies

November 25, 2015

At a recent hearing, members of the European Parliament Special Committee on Tax Rulings questioned business representatives on their alleged tax avoidance and considered whether the EU should mandate country-by-country reporting of corporate tax payments within the bloc.
Groups Seek Use of Global Standards in National Policy

November 18, 2015

The International Organization for Standardization, the International Electrotechnical Commission, and the UN Economic Commission for Europe recently convened a conference at which officials from these organizations promoted the use of international standards, often dealing with business conduct, in accomplishing national policy goals.
H&M Signs Global Agreement on Worker Rights

November 18, 2015

Highlighting the growing pressure on clothing retail companies to support activist efforts to improve worker conditions in their supply chains, garment retailer H&M, the trade union organization IndustriALL Global Union, and Swedish union IF Metall have signed a deal pushing collective agreements and monitoring of employee rights in the H&M supply chain.
NGO Calls for Reporting Requirements on Commodity Trading

November 03, 2015

The nongovernmental organization Berne Declaration has called on Switzerland and the international organization the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to do more to push businesses to publish the payments they make to countries in commodities trading in order to "close the transparency gap" in the extractive sector.