Top Stories

October 16, 2018

Human Rights

Report: Analysis of modern slavery statements shows little improvement in reporting

A new report by Ergon Associates on modern slavery statements finds that in the 18 months since their last analysis, only 54 percent of companies had produced a new statement. The report looks at a group of 150 companies last analysed in April 2017 to see if their statements have changed, supplemented with interviews with leading companies to assess if reporting is driving change within businesses. The Modern Slavery Act states that companies in the UK should report every year, and government guidelines state that these should be published within six months of the financial year-end. The report finds that a substantial minority of companies in the sample (42%) do not appear to be following this. It also finds that of those companies that had produced a new statement, only 58 percent had incorporated substantial changes to content. The rest contained either minimal changes or no amendments at all other than to change the date of the statement. (Ergon)

Climate Change   

Bank of England: banks, insurers must have credible plans for climate change

Britain’s banks and insurers must come up with credible plans for protecting themselves against risks from climate change and may need to hold more capital, the Bank of England (BoE) said on Monday 15th October. In a consultation paper released yesterday, the BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) sets out how effective governance, risk management, scenario analysis, and disclosures may be applied by firms to address the financial risks from climate change. “Financial risks from climate change will be minimized if there is an orderly market transition to a low-carbon world, but the window for an orderly transition is finite and closing,” the central bank said. (Reuters UK)

Responsible Investment

South Africa’s investors pursue responsible investing 

Global investment manager Schroders has found that South African investors back firms with the best track records in environmental, social and corporate governance. The report found that 55 percent of South African investors often invested in funds that consider and report about sustainability factors – 13 percent more than the global average. The company, which tracks the behaviour of those investing at least €10,000 a year across 30 countries, found that South African investors were very engaged in global sustainability in general, with particular attention on matters around climate change. Engagement on the issue was even higher than that of most European countries due to heightened awareness and debate about these issues in the country, according to Jessica Ground, Global Head of Stewardship at Schroders. (Business Day)

Climate Change

Amazon, PwC and Royal Mail lead wave of Mission Possible Pledges for Green GB Week

More than 30 businesses from across the UK have today (16th October) announced an array of bold new sustainability commitments on edie’s virtual Pledge Wall. Driven through an ongoing partnership between edie and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), new sustainable business commitments have been made from the likes of Barratt Developments, DHL Global Forwarding, EDF Energy and KPMG, taking the number of pledges that have been submitted through the Mission Possible campaign so far to 50. Commenting on the Mission Possible Pledges, Energy Minister Claire Perry said: “Governments cannot confront this unprecedented global challenge alone. We need businesses around the world to step up to the mark and today our largest companies are leading the way, making significant pledges worth millions to cut emissions while continuing to grow the green economy.” (Edie)

Supply Chain    

Tetra Pak launches “Plant Secure” to boost productivity in the global food and beverage industry

Tetra Pak has introduced Plant Secure, a total plant management service designed specifically to improve quality and delivery performance in the food and beverage sector while minimizing waste and reducing costs across their supply chains. The new management service could enable manufacturers to adopt a structured and systematic business-wide approach to identify areas of improvement and create targeted plans to boost performance and deliver savings across their operations, with advanced food safety and quality technologies, such as traceability solutions and aseptic performance. “Our investment in Industry 4.0 technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation and data velocity has enabled us to better-support our customers in the digital era,” said Dennis Jönsson, President and CEO of Tetra Pak Group. (TriplePundit)

 

Image source: Lines And Shadows by Richard Walker on FlickrCC BY 2.0.

COMMENTS