The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (“CHRB”) has released its 2018 research methodology, reflecting revisions to the 2016 methodology used to produce CHRB’s 2017 inaugural benchmarking report.
The 2017 benchmarking report ranked 98 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies on their human rights performance using 100 specific performance indicators. The CHRB has focused on companies in the following three industry sectors: agriculture;… More
On May 9, we released a public summary of our report “Good Practice for Managing the Social Impacts of Oil Pipelines in the United States.” A copy of the public summary of the report is available here.
The independent report was prepared by Amy Lehr, Cicely Parseghian, and Gare Smith.… More
On June 27, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a new rule requiring extractive sector companies (oil, gas, and mining) to disclose the payments that they make to governments for the commercial development of oil, gas, or minerals.
The rule was enacted pursuant to Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which directed the SEC to issue a rule requiring extractive sector companies to disclose payments to governments,… More
On March 21, the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (“CHRB”) released the methodology that it will use to rank 100 companies on their human rights performance as part of an initial pilot. The companies chosen for the pilot include members of the extractive, apparel, and agricultural sectors.
Earlier this year, the CHRB announced the list of companies that it will assess as part of the pilot effort.… More
On December 11, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a new proposed rule to implement a key provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that targets corruption and increases transparency requirements for payments made to foreign governments by the oil, gas, and mining industries.
The SEC voted to re-propose rule 13q-1 and proposed an amended form SD to implement Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.… More
In November, the Government of Canada announced a revised Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) strategy for the extractive sector. Building on Canada’s plan for Responsible Resource Development, the strategy (“Doing Business the Canadian Way: Advancing Corporate Social Responsibility in Canada’s Extractive Sector Abroad“) focuses on the activities of extractive sector companies, but is intended to provide “a more general audience with an overview of Canada’s approach to promoting and advancing CSR abroad.”… More
Until recently, it was not uncommon for Chinese companies to be invoked as bogeymen in certain circles. The narrative went something like this:
Western companies are more accountable than Chinese companies – via tort suits, civil society pressure, government regulation, and non-judicial accountability mechanisms such as the OECD Guidelines, to name a few. Although Western companies’ operations do create negative social, environmental and human rights impacts,… More
On August 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) voted two to one in favor of a final rule implementing Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Commissioners Schapiro and Paredes were recused from the vote. A copy of the final rule is available here (.pdf).
As discussed in previous posts, Section 1504 directs the SEC to issue rules requiring extractive companies (oil,… More
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On September 20, the Obama Administration announced its intent to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ("EITI"). Government members of the EITI are required to disclose the payments that oil, gas, and mining companies make to them, and companies operating in those countries publish their payments to the governments. The two can then be reconciled for greater transparency and certainty regarding payments to governments.
A working group in each EITI member country –… More
Transparency International and Revenue Watch have released a report, Promoting Revenue Transparency: 2011 Report on Oil and Gas Companies, that is indicative of the pressure being placed on extractive sector companies to report on their payments to host governments and the value-sharing stipulations in their contracts.
The report ranks 44 oil and gas companies – both publicly listed and national oil companies –… More