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Article

29 Nov 2018

Author:
Frank Bold, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre et al

Civil society groups incl. BHRRC call on EU Commission to improve legal framework for corporate sustainability reporting

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The European Commission’s Action Plan on Sustainable Finance and the related legislative proposals are a crucial step towards achieving the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals... To achieve this objective, EU policy-makers must review and clarify the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive in order to establish minimum legal requirements for corporate sustainability reporting.

Investors are increasingly demanding comparable and consistent sustainability data from companies to help inform investment decisions and engagement. This information is also key for civil society and public authorities to assess and monitor corporate responsibility and accountability. However, at present there is wide divergence in companies’ reporting practices, which leads to a lack of concise, consistent, comparable information for investors and other stakeholders...

We call on the European Commission to review and develop the reporting framework for corporate disclosure on environmental, social, human rights and anti-corruption issues and specify baseline mandatory requirements and metrics. A common standardised reporting framework is a prerequisite to creating a sustainable and just economy and financial system, and allowing investors to fulfill their existing and upcoming legal obligations to undertake Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) assessments...