Communication
March 2010- Disclosure Submission of the European Combined Reporting Alliance
17 February 2010
Summary
Eurosif submitted a joint Response to the European Commission aiming to improve the outcome from a series of workshops held from September 2009 to February 2010 by the EC to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure. The Response was jointly submitted by the following organisations: The European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS), Eurosif, European Laboratory, The Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Project, Railpen Investments and World Intellectual Capital/Assets Initiative.
The Response highlights the following:
- Favours a combined approach to corporate reporting as one of the levers to embed sustainability in corporate strategy & management practices;
- Supports a mandatory regulatory approach to ESG disclosure and reporting at the European level, as long as it provides companies with some latitude of choice in terms of content;
- Considers that there is no appropriate ESG disclosure and reporting framework presently fully meeting the needs of capital markets actors (namely companies and investors), while non-financial disclosure and reporting frameworks currently in progress are promoting the idea of combined reporting;
- Acknowledges the fact that the time has come to unite the efforts of the scattered and international European initiatives on ESG disclosure & reporting, and to support the efforts of international connected reporting initiatives such as the International Connected Reporting Committee.