The REP Wrap: Swiss government to consult on due diligence law
Your weekly summary of corporate sustainability news.
The Swiss Government has announced it plans to consult on a new corporate due diligence law next year. The country’s federal council said it will adapt its existing legislation on supply chain risk and due diligence to align better with the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). Switzerland is the fourth most popular European country for companies to be headquartered.
A study of 1,500 developed-market companies suggests that those whose revenues align more closely with the EU Taxonomy (TR) have better stock returns. The academic paper, whose authors include EFRAG board member Kerstin Lopatta, claims to “offer support for a significant estimated TR alignment premium, compatible with the interpretation that investors already apply the TR and allocate capital to TR-aligned companies”.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has launched some new awards to celebrate businesses with the best approach to climate resilience. The NGO has teamed up with the Global Resilience Partnership to identify companies “who are taking action to assess and ensure future resilience to climate change and broader physical risks for themselves, their supply chains and their communities”.
The first large-scale linguistic analysis of corporate net-zero discourse has concluded that many decarbonisation pledges come from companies’ “need to conform to expected ‘appropriate behaviour’ or risk reputational damage”. Researchers from the University of Birmingham assessed more than 1,200 sustainability reports published by Fortune 500 companies between 2020 and 2022, and found many “lack the substance needed to drive real change”. Many focus on targets and disclosure, but omit key measures like shifting to renewables in favour of “a broader ‘techno-optimistic narrative” that relies on future innovations.
Renewable energy developer Ørsted is initiating a lawsuit against the US government over its decision to block a major wind farm in the country. Known as Revolution Wind, the project was a joint venture between the Danish firm and a consortium of smaller companies, but it was halted under the Trump Administration. Paperwork shows it would cost more than $1bn to cancel the project. Connecticut and Rhode Island also pursuing legal action against the government on the same grounds.
Puro.earth has raised €11m to invest in its carbon-crediting platform for engineered carbon dioxide removal (CDR). The Series B funding round was led by Nasdaq, with participation from Fortum Innovation & Venturing. In a statement, Puro.earth said it would focus on initiatives that enable “more frequent issuance of high-integrity carbon removal credits, facilitating offtake agreements, and advancing open integration of digital measurement, reporting, and verification tools”.