sustainability Archives

Volkswagen settles with US authorities and diesel car owners

German car manufacturer Volkswagen (VW), which last year admitted to falsifying emissions data in its diesel cars around the world, has reached a $10.03 billion settlement with US authorities and former and current diesel car owners.

If approved by US …

US falling behind on sustainability reporting says SEC chair White

Sustainability reporting in the US needs improvement according to the chair of its Security and Exchange Commission, Mary Jo White, in her key note address at the International Corporate Governance Network conference that took place in San Francisco this week.…

Forced labour supply chains: HP tops ranking of analysis of IT sector

The first benchmark findings on the efforts of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies to mitigate forced labour in their supply chains have been published by KnowTheChain a project of Humanity United a US-based foundation tackling global injustice issues. KnowTheChain …

Richard Branson adds voice to social justice campaign

UK founder of the Virgin-branded companies and philanthropist, Sir Richard Branson, has added his voice to a campaign against inequality, in a video which explains why he believes social justice is good for business.

He talks about meeting a …

$4.8 trillion investor coalition backs first business and human rights benchmark

A coalition of over 80 institutional investors, with $4.8 trillion in assets under management, has pledged support for the creation of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) – the world’s first wide-scale benchmark on companies’ human rights policies, processes and …

European Responsible Investment Network is formed

A new Civil Society Organisation (CSO), the European Responsible Investment Network (ERIN), was launched last week at a conference in Berlin. The network is made up of 25 organisations from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the …

Shell has muted opposition to executive pay but Standard Life continues to raise auditor concerns

Royal Dutch Shell experienced a relatively modest level of investor opposition to its executive remuneration report at its recent AGM with a 14% vote against, this follows the rival oil company BP’s loss of its pay vote last month. However, …

AXA divests from tobacco companies

Insurer and investment company, AXA, has taken the decision to stop investing in tobacco companies, due to the public health risks of smoking.

AXA said that as a responsible investor and health insurer it had considered that increasingly healthcare was …

Swiss pensions funds could improve on responsible investment says new study

Environmental charity, WWF, together with Responsible Investment (RI) pressure group ShareAction, has carried out the first survey examining the RI approaches of the 20 largest Swiss pension funds. The study analysed how far pension funds invest their beneficiaries’ money sustainably …

Investors call for systematic climate-related risk reporting

A group of institutional investors has called on companies to assess and report their climate-related risks within their annual report to shareholders, in the interests of prudent and long-term capital stewardship.

The position paper has been signed by Natasha Landell-Mills, …