A concerted global attack should be waged on tax havens, according to a poll of senior executives conducted for the Times and Icas. The poll found that 73 per cent of financial leaders think paying the right tax is a reputational issue, rather than just a technical or compliance problem. 81 per cent of those surveyed said there should be “co-ordinated action” to bring an end to offshore tax havens, showing that businesses are keen to re-establish trust, Icas said. The recent leak of the documents known as the Panama Papers, as well as a public backlash against big international companies avoiding tax, such as Google and Starbucks, is causing a shift in policy by many businesses. Meanwhile, the OECD will report in July on all jurisdictions that have not signed up to international standards on tax transparency and information sharing. G20 finance ministers and central bank governors have said that those that do not comply will face “defensive measures”.(Times*)
Reporting
GRI reveals next tranche of modular sustainability standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has unveiled drafts of its second set of Sustainability Reporting Standards for public consultation, covering issues including emissions, biodiversity and child labour. Sustainability executives and other stakeholders now have until July 17 to provide feedback on the drafts, which aim to improve the structure, format and presentation of the GRI’s standards. Under the planned reforms, GRI-compliant reports will have to feature three ‘universal’ standards and will also be able to draw on 35 topic-specific standards. “The improved structure, format and presentation of GRI Standards… will open up reporting to thousands of organisations that have not yet begun disclosing their broader economic, environmental and social impacts,” said Eric Hespenheide, chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board. The latest release is the second set to be put to public consultation, after the first tranche of modular standards was released for public comment in April. (Business Green)
Corporate Reputation
John Oliver buys and forgives $15m worth of medical debt
John Oliver, host of US news satire show Last Week Tonight, forgave nearly $15 million worth of medical debt on his show on Sunday. Oliver’s “giveaway” came at the end of a 20-minute segment on the bad actors in the industry, who recoup debt they buy from banks using threats and other aggressive tactics. “Debt-buying is a grimy business and badly needs more oversight, because as it stands any idiot can get into it. And I can prove that to you because I am an idiot and we started a debt-buying company,” said Oliver. According to Oliver, soon after its creation, the company was offered a portfolio of medical debt worth $14,922,261.76 and a list of names, addresses and social security numbers of nearly 9,000 people. The show partnered with the charity RIP Medical Debt, which works to seek out and forgive unpaid and unpayable medical debt. (Guardian)
Human Rights
Nearly 60% of Qatar population live in ‘labour camps’
1.4 million people, or 58 per cent of the Qatar’s population, live in what the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics officially designates as “labour camps”. Qatar, which will host the football World Cup in 2022, has been condemned by human rights groups, including AmnestyInternational, for providing “squalid and cramped accommodation” for its large migrant workforce. Last week, 11 people were killed and 12 injured when a fire ripped through a camp housing labourers working on a tourism project in the southwest of the country. The country has responded to the criticism by building new workers’ housing complexes, including the US$825 million “Labour City” south of the capital Doha, which incorporates shops, cinemas and a cricket stadium. The complex is one of seven being developed, which will accommodate almost 260,000 people in total. (Channel NewsAsia)
Policy
Ignoring scientists, Poland begins logging famous primeval forest
A new plan by the Polish government will allow loggers to harvest more than 180,000 cubic metres of wood from Europe’s last old-growth lowland forest over the next ten years. Bialowieza is the only large stand of lowland trees on the continent that has never knowingly been logged. While the project will avoid logging inside Bialowieza National Park, it will cut large, old trees out of the ecosystem directly surrounding the small protected area. Rafał Kowalczyk, the director of the Mammal Research Institute in Bialowieza Forest described the plan a “catastrophe”. The Polish government argues it is protecting the forest and tourists through its new logging plan, which will combat a current infestation of spruce bark beetle. But environmentalists contend that the government is ignoring scientific findings and that this is just an excuse to access more wood from the forest. (Eco-business)
Image source: Biogradska forest in Montenegro by Snežana Trifunović / CC BY-SA 3.0
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