But not too much. After all, you don’t abandon your true religion so easily
On Monday, July 31st, the EU Commission (read: the European government) has released new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting rules, which were previously diluted from their initial proposal. The rules aim to enhance disclosure policy for around 50,000 EU companies regarding 12 standards, including workforce-related matters like collective bargaining and fair pay. Despite calls from various influential groups to maintain the integrity of the standards, the final proposal allows many reporting requirements to be voluntary, such as climate, biodiversity, and transition plan reporting. This means companies can decide for themselves if a requirement is relevant to their impact on nature. The horror!
Civil society organizations and investors are concerned that this change will reduce reporting consistency, subverting the EU’s only true power, regulation. While reports still require auditing by accounting firms like KPMG and Deloitte, critics fear it may not ensure credible reporting standards because these accounting firms are PRIVATE and thus EVIL. The EU Parliament and the European states will now scrutinize the rules, although they can not amend them.
