EU close to making ESG disclosure mandatory

Responsible-Investor.com reported today that the Executive Commission of the EU is close to making ESG disclosure mandatory, as told to them by Matt Christensen, Eurosif’s Executive Director.

Already in place is the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive to curb bank bonuses, and underway is an EU consultation on corporate governance in financial institutions. In its response to the EC’s consultation on Non-Financial Reporting, Eurosif calls for institutional investors to disclose the extent to which ESG factors are integrated into their investment decisions.

Further, Eurosif is working with the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) to collaborate on future initiatives such as framing language around ESG disclosure to make it more clear, especially in the financial services industry.

This is certainly good news for Europe, but what does this mean for the U.S.? Do you think this will get the wheels in motion for non-financial reporting to be mandatory here? Or will it take more push from shareholders to influence the government? Discuss!

To read the full article please click here.

Investors Call for Mandatory Sustainability Reporting

This past January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released guidelines to support publicly traded corporations in disclosing their climate change risks to shareholders.  According to SEC Commissioner Eisse Walter, the decision was “designed to improve the quality of disclosures filed by U.S. public companies for the benefit of investors.”

Now member organizations of the Social Investment Forum (SIF) are encouraging the SEC to take the corporate reporting requirements further and define mandatory ESG (environmental social governance) reporting according to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting guidelines. 

The GRI is the world’s most widely-used sustainability reporting framework and is “a comprehensive, uniform set of sustainability indicators comprised of both universally applicable and industry-specific components,” according to the SIF.