ETHICAL BUSINESS

Nestlé to end advertising of sugary snacks to kids under 16

Global food company Nestlé will no longer advertise products including confectionery, ice-cream and water-based beverages with added sugars to children under the age of 16. Effective globally from July 2023, the company stated that its responsible marketing practices were being updated “as part of its efforts to help bring balanced diets within reach for people around the world.” The voluntary restrictions add to Nestlé’s existing policies including a ban on product marketing communication targeting children between 0 and 6 years of age, and of not marketing biscuits, sugar, chocolate confectionery, water-based beverage products with added sugars and ice creams to children under 13. The new restrictions apply to marketing channels including TV and online platforms, such as social media and gaming. (ESG Today)

EMPLOYEES

Chevron Australia finds nearly half its workers suffered bullying

Energy company Chevron has said that nearly half its workers in Australia have been bullied in the past five years and nearly a third have experienced sexual harassment. The company also confirmed women suffered higher instances of workplace abuse. Chevron reviewed its business after the state of Western Australia ran an investigation into sexual harassment of women in the mining industry. The survey found 47% of employees experienced bullying in the past five years and 30% had been sexually harassed in the same time period. More than half of Chevron staff reported witnessing or hearing about bullying, harassment or discrimination, but 47% of those took no action for fear of reprisals. The report also found a lack of accountability for bad behaviour which allowed it to continue or worsen. (Reuters)

LAWSUITS

Puerto Rican towns sue oil majors under collusion allegations

Puerto Rican municipalities have filed a lawsuit in federal court saying oil and gas companies ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron and others colluded to downplay the risks of their fossil-fuel products. The lawsuit alleges the companies are financially responsible for damages from the 2017 hurricane season, which was made worse by global warming. The group of 16 municipalities filed what they call a first-of-its-kind lawsuit. The towns say the companies coordinated a multibillion-dollar “fraudulent marketing scheme” to convince consumers that fossil fuel products do not alter the climate. That campaign ran contrary to the companies' own studies showing their products accelerate climate change, the lawsuit said. The municipalities said the companies outlined a plan of deception in a joint memo that took aim at international climate negotiations in the 1990s. (Reuters)

SOCIAL MOBILITY

London report finds ‘class ceiling’ blighting financial services

A report into social mobility has called to “break the ‘class’ ceiling” in London and get more people from non-professional backgrounds in boardrooms. Published by the City of London Corporation-led Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce (SEDT), the report was set up to tackle poor social mobility with its findings showing the lack of working and intermediate-class employees in financial and professional services, and the particular difficulty of progressing up the ranks. Around half of financial and professional services employees are from non-professional backgrounds, and of these, 25% progress slower and only 36% of working-class staff become senior. The study also found those from non-professional backgrounds are paid around £17,500 less, with no links to performance. The report outlines a five-step process for employers, sector bodies, regulators and the government to work towards implementing change. (City AM)

SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT

Fitch expands ESG ratings service to over $100 billion in bonds

Finance company Fitch’s sustainability-focused analytics business Sustainable Fitch has announced the launch of its ‘ESG Ratings’ for global labelled structured bonds and covered bonds. The offering expands its dataset to over $100 billion in labelled structured bonds. The product includes ‘Entity Ratings’, which evaluate entities’ positive and negative impact on the environment and society, ‘Framework Ratings’, which evaluate the use of proceeds, KPIs, and strength of governance, and ‘Instrument Ratings’, which integrate the entity and framework-level scores, allowing for comparisons between instruments. The announcement expands upon the company’s earlier launch of its ESG ratings product – ESG Ratings, Data & Analysis – adding a dataset of over $100 billion in labelled structured bonds to its initial set of $500 billion of labelled and KPI-linked instruments. (ESG Today)

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