Читать книгу Patty's Industrial Hygiene, Program Management and Specialty Areas of Practice - Группа авторов - Страница 104

There are a growing number of countries that have legislation or stock market requirements affecting nonfinancial reporting that is publically available. In 2002, the French passed the nouvelles régulations économiques, or NRE which required some social and environmental performance reporting for certain organizations (15). In 2007, the Swedish government announced its commitment to becoming the first country in the world to require state‐owned companies to present sustainability reports based on the GRI guidelines. Similar developments have occurred in China, India, South Africa, and Brazil. Most recently the European Parliament passed a nonfinancial reporting directive in 2014 (DIRECTIVE 2014/95/EU). This measure requires the 28 Member States with organizations and businesses that have more than 500 employees and a balance sheet of 20 million Euros or more (includes credit institutions, insurance companies, and public interest companies) to produce a nonfinancial report. The nonfinancial report must include information on environmental performance, social and employee matters, respect for human rights and anti‐corruption, and must be published within six months of their annual reports and have an auditor's statement. The EU Directive also requires certain diversity information to be provided by each organization as well. This requirement is being implemented by each Member State into their own legislation framework and was effective in 2017 with the first mandated reports due in 2018 (16).

In the United States, there are the requirements of the SASB and currently, a large number of initiatives proposed to the SEC, banking institutions, and other stakeholders to require more information related to sustainability (and safety and health). Even without specific regulations, the pressure of ESG investors is driving more reporting by companies in the sustainability realm.