European Parliament votes for country-by-country tax reporting
Members of the European Parliament have backed rules that would require multinationals to report their tax payments on a country-by-country basis. Deputies in Strasbourg voted by a 556 votes to 67 margin to approve plans to re-write the EU’s eight-year old Shareholders’ Rights Directive that would require listed companies to publicly report financial information, including profits and losses, tax payments, and public subsidies received on a country-by-county basis. The parliament also wants shareholders to have the right to vote at least once every three years on a listed company’s remuneration policy for its directors. Almost three quarters of listed companies currently fail to disclose any information about tax payments in foreign countries, according to research by Transparency International. (euobserver)
UK unveils National Living Wage
The UK’s new Conservative government has announced it will slash benefits for low paid workers – but will force businesses to pay them more. A National Living Wage for over-25s, starting at £7.20 and rising to £9 an hour by 2020, replaces the £6.50 minimum wage. The new Budget also scrapped student grants and froze working age benefits, but increased the overall tax take to slow the pace of welfare cuts. The Living Wage Foundation, which calculates annual living wage rates for London and the wider UK, welcomed the move, but said it was “effectively a higher National Minimum Wage and not a Living Wage”. It added: “To make sure workers in London and those under 25 do not lose out, we call on employers to join the group of 1,600 organisations that have already chosen to become voluntary Living Wage employers.” (BBC; FT*; Living Wage Foundation)
Environment
WWF and Unilever announce campaign to protect one million trees
WWF and Unilever have launched a one-year partnership to engage consumers in the fight against deforestation. The partnership between the conservation organisation and the multinational consumer goods firm will seek to raise awareness of the importance of the world’s forests, as well as protect one million trees. The partners will support protection programmes in Brazil and Indonesia, two countries with some of the highest historical rates of deforestation in the world. Deforestation remains one of the main drivers of climate change, with up to a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions coming as a result of the loss of forests and forest degradation. The campaign will engage consumers through Unilever’s Bright Future platform, with a social media campaign to launch in August to raise awareness. (Edie)
Corporate Reputation
Green Climate Fund partners with Deutsche Bank to green fury
The UN’s Green Climate Fund, seen as a key tool in the fight against climate change, has sparked an outcry from green groups by partnering with Deutsche Bank. Germany’s leading investment bank is the world’s tenth largest backer of coal, with €15 billion invested in the industry from 2005 to 2014. In a statement, over 20 campaign groups argued Deutsche Bank’s support for coal was at odds with the green fund’s carbon-cutting objectives. They also raised concerns over its “very poor” record on human rights monitoring, and failure to crack down on money laundering. The $10 billion Green Climate Fund was capitalised last year mainly by developed countries. Half of the cash is to help the world’s poor adapt to the impacts of climate change, with the other half to go to green developing economies through projects like wind farms and bus rapid transit schemes. (RTCC)
Exxon knew of climate change in 1981, but funded deniers for 27 more years
ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company, knew as early as 1981 of climate change – seven years before it became a public issue, according to a newly discovered email from one of the firm’s own scientists. Despite this, the firm spent millions over the next 27 years to promote climate denial. The email from Exxon’s in-house climate expert provides evidence the company was aware of the connection between fossil fuels and climate change, and the potential for carbon-cutting regulations that could hurt its bottom line, over a generation ago – factoring that knowledge into its decision about an enormous gas field in south-east Asia. The field, off the coast of Indonesia, would have been the single largest source of global warming pollution at the time. Exxon has said that it now acknowledges the risk of climate change and does not fund climate change denial groups. (The Guardian)
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