The REP Wrap: PR giant loses B Corp label after Shell outrage
Your weekly summary of corporate sustainability news.
French PR giant Havas has had its status as a B Corp revoked as a result of outrage over its decision to work for Shell. Four of Havas’ agencies had the label, awarded by non-profit B Lab to show that a company is ‘purpose-driven’ and a “force for good”, taken away. Competitors reportedly complained after another agency within Havas signed a contract with Shell. B Lab decided the firm should have to qualify for the B Corp label at group level to avoid confusion.
The Financial Stability Board has published a stocktake of regulatory and supervisory initiatives to assess nature-related financial risks. The document provides a summary of current initiatives along with case studies about the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the World Bank, among others.
ClientEarth has produced “red lines for aviation ‘sustainability’ advertising”, based on a recent judgement against Dutch airline KLM. The for-purpose law firm, in partnership with NGOs Fossielvrij NL and Reclame Fossielvrij, sent 71 airlines a letter saying they should be honest about the actual impact of their environmental efforts and drop any suggestion that their carbon offsetting can compensate fully for emissions from flights. It also said the term ‘sustainable aviation fuel’ should be removed from advertising and replaced with a more literal description of the fuel. The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis has just published a study on the credibility of sustainable aviation fuels, looking at six production options.
The new UK Government has outlined its priorities for its first few months in power, via the King’s Speech. High up on the list was a proposal to replace the Financial Reporting Council with a toothier Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority. The long-awaited plan will enable stronger enforcement in the area, and is expected to bolster the various climate reporting requirements in place, or in the pipeline, in the UK.
France has launched a transition plan for its sugar industry, which is responsible for 3% of domestic emissions. The government department in charge of the energy transition, known as ADEME, has published three pathways to help companies in the industry understand which levers they could pull to help achieve the necessary decarbonisation levels by 2050.
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KPMG has found that investors are increasingly integrating environmental, social and governance factors into due diligence during M&A transactions. A survey of more than 600 active dealmakers suggested that ESG considerations were likely to continue to rise in importance over the near-term, despite political and industry pushback in some regions. However, KPMG noted that despite this growing emphasis, budgets allocated to ESG due diligence are lower than the equivalents for financial, commercial or legal evaluations. “This limits ESG specialists’ ability to perform in-depth analysis across the many complex environmental, social and governance topics that investors seek,” the report said.
The EU’s advisory body for sustainability-related reporting, EFRAG, is looking for a specialist in social and human rights disclosures. The body wants a permanent Brussels-based candidate to help develop the next set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards. “Applications are invited for professionals with over five years’ experience in the field,” EFRAG said in the vacancy.