Posts tagged disclosure

ArcelorMittal abuses in South Africa

December 4, 2009 · Filed under research · Tagged , , , , , , ,

The European Coalition for Corporate Justice has published two case studies which claimed that  European companies are not respecting environmental and human rights standards  when operating in countries outside the EU.

The first case study, entitled “Failure to communicate”, focuses on the operations of steel conglomerate Arcelor Mittal in South Africa and on the claims of environmental pollution and degradation of labour rights.

An important point made in the report is that the South African authorities knew very well Arcelor Mittal’s record of serious environmental pollution.

According to the report:

“Pollutants from the plant’s industrial waste have reportedly seeped through the ground, contaminated local aquifers and affected the groundwater of
nearby communities. ArcelorMittal is also one of the top three polluters
of particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide in the Vaal
Triangle industrial region, where an estimated 65 per cent of chronic
illnesses in the area are reported to be caused by industrial pollution.“
According to the report, Arcelor Mittal and the South African government are withholding information which could enable the interested parties to assess the company’s impact on environment and if the company’s plan to act against pollution is effective.
Following public campaigns in the 1990’s, Arcelor Mittal has adopted an environment management plan but the government has agreed that the plan would not be made public. Moreover,  the government “will not allow full public disclosure of the information it contains, including the level of
pollution caused by ArcelorMittal.”
The lack of information affects not only the public at large but also the public authorities. For example, the “waste site public monitoring committee” cannot assess the impacts of the Arcelor Mittal waste site on society and the
environment.
The attempts to determine Arcelor Mittal to change its policy have failed and the multinational stated in a letter that it “will not be in the best interest
of ArcelorMittal South Africa” to disclose the requested information.

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SEC’s search for better disclosure

October 28, 2008 · Filed under law · Tagged , , , , ,

In June, SEC’s Chairman Christopher Cox lauched the “21st Century Disclosure Initiative.” The Initiative goal  is to review the existing disclosure system, its objectives and to try to propose measures in order to improve the disclosure system with modern technology and practices.

The SEC asked for public comment and the deadline for submitting them was October, 22.

Ceres has published the letter that fourteen of the nation’s largest institutional investors have sent to SEC in which they urge the Securities Exchange Commission to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues as “a key element of the 21st Century Disclosure Initiative”.

The investors consider that the SEC should include “consistent and comparable” standards for disclosure of climate risk information in its disclosure system. Climate risk information is increasingly used in order to make investment decisions but most of the data is to be found in corporate voluntary reports. The information provided by corporation in these reports is not considered sufficient by investors in order to assess corporation’s financial viability.

The investors consider that environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues should find their place in the SEC disclosure system. At the moment this type of information can be found in corporate responsibility reports. The investors propose that the GRI should serve as an example for a new disclosure system.

It has to be said that this debate is not at all new in the countries of the European Union. Actually, regulations regarding disclosure of non-financial information have been adopted at both European level and national level. The U.S. investors use the examples of France, U.K. and Sweden in order to justify the need for a reform of the SEC disclosure system.

Actually, it will be interesting to see how far the SEC will go in its reform. By the end of 2008, the Initiative will produce a report that will present the modernized disclosure system.

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