SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR A Governmental Approach Copyright © United Nations Environment Programme, 2017 Use of this publication This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-proit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. United Nations Environment Program (UN Environment) would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from UN Environment. Citation UN Environment & Group of Friends of Paragraph 47, Sustainability Reporting in the Financial Sector – A Governmental Approach, 2016. Disclaimer The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UN Environment concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Moreover, the views expressed do not necessarily represent the decision or the stated policy of UN Environment, nor does citing of trade names or commercial processes constitute endorsement. For more information, United Nations Environment Programme Economy Division 1 rue Miollis, Building VII - 75015 Paris, France http://www.unep.org Job Number: DTI/2096/PA ISBN: 978-92-807-3643-4 UN Environment promotes environmentally sound practices globally and its own activities. This publication is printed on certiied paper, using eco-friendly practices. Our distribution policy aims to reduce UN Environment’s carbon footprint. Acknowledgements Lead authors Karin Ireton, Sustainability Matters Victor Valido, UN Environment Consultant Laura Ramirez, Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and the Sea, France Editor Joyce Paul Contributing authors and researchers Ana Maria Bernal and Samir Kiuhan, Financial Superintendent of Colombia Christian Loy, RFU Fernanda Rodrigues de Macedo, Getulio Vargas Foundation Michel Tschirren, Swiss Federal Ofice for the Environment Regina Schwegler and Renzo Iten, INFRAS Sophie Constans, Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea, France Supervision, coordination and technical support Elisa Tonda, Head of Responsible Industry and Value-Chain Unit, Economy Division, UN Environment Robin Edme, Chairman, Group of Friends of Paragraph 47, Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea, France Publication design Maria Pulcinella Murray, Digital Production Specialist, Philadelphia Publication support and review Chloe Joubert, Stephanie Nitze Peer reviewers Beate Ekeberg, Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment Ellen Johansen and Rune Gottlieb Skovgaard, Danish Business Authority Devina Naidoo and Tshwanelo Seeletsa, Department of Environmental Affairs, South Africa Julio Cordano, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chile Helena Rey de Assis, UN Environment Raquel Breda, Alan Ainer Boccato Franco and Vana Tércia de Freitas, Ministry of Environment, Brazil Sebastien Truffer, Swiss Federal Ofice for the Environment Victoria Morales Gorleri and Flavia Ortiz, Ministry of Social Development, Argentina Wolfram Tertschnig and Verena Wittmann, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Austria Yeinni Patiño and Santiago Montoya Roldan, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Colombia UN Environment and the GoF47 gratefully acknowledge the inancial contribution of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management to this publication. Contents Foreword...............................................................5 1. Introduction......................................................10 1.1 Group of Friends of Paragraph 47.............................................................10 1.2 Research Methodology..............................................................................11 1.2.1 GoF47 Framework for Policy Evaluation .......................................11 1.2.2 Scope of this Report........................................................................12 1.3 Why the Focus on the Financial Sector? ..................................................13 1.4 The Leadership Factor................................................................................17 1.5 Current State of Reporting in the Financial Sector..................................18 2. Findings and Recommendations........................22 2.1. Key Findings...............................................................................................22 2.2. Key Recommendations for the GoF47 ....................................................26 2.3 Recommendations for Policy Makers .......................................................26 3. Finance Sector Speciic International Initiatives........................................28 3.1 Addis Ababa Action Agreement...............................................................28 3.2 The Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System..............30 3.3 Financial Stability Board Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures .......................................................................................................30 3.4 UNEP Finance Initiative..............................................................................32 3.5 Principles for Responsible Investment ....................................................33 3.6 Conclusion..................................................................................................34 4. National Case Studies from GoF47 countries..35 4.1 Legal Requirements for Sustainability Reporting: The Colombian and French Examples...........................................................35 4.1.1 Colombia...........................................................................................38 4.1.2 France...............................................................................................41 4.2 Legal Changes Promoting Disclosure and ESG Integration..................53 2 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 4.2.1 South Africa’s Pension Fund Amendment.....................................53 4.2.2 Switzerland: Increasing Public Pressure on Governance..............57 4.2.3 Brazilian Financial Institutions: Guidelines for Social and Environmental Policies.............................................................................58 4.3 Voluntary Codes Promoting Sustainability Reporting.............................61 4.3.1 The South African Case..................................................................61 4.3.2 Swiss Voluntary Adoption of the PRI .............................................62 4.4 Market Instruments.....................................................................................64 4.4.1 Sustainable Responsible Investment Indices: The Brazilian and South African Cases....................................................64 4.4.2 Labels and Awards: The Austrian Case.........................................79 5. Case Studies from Around the World..............89 5.1 Public Sector Reporting in the UK............................................................89 5.2 Indian Reserve Bank Takes Action ...........................................................89 5.3 Banking on Change in Nigeria, Bangladesh and China.........................90 6. Best Practice Examples of GoF47 Public Financial Institutions......................93 6.1 ERAFP (France)...........................................................................................93 6.2 Caisse des Dépôts (France)........................................................................94 6.3 FINDETER (Colombia)................................................................................95 6.4 South African State-Owned Financial Institutions....................................97 6.5 Conclusion...................................................................................................98 7. Other Voluntary Disclosure Initiatives.............99 7.1 CDP..............................................................................................................99 7.2 Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP)...............................................100 7.3 Equator Principles....................................................................................101 7.4 World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) ..................................................102 7.5 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) .............................................................102 7.6 Conclusion................................................................................................102 3 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 8. List of Abbreviations......................................103 9. Index of Tables, Figures and Graphs..............107 10. Appendices..................................................108 4 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Foreword Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 Given the role played, in many and diverse aspects, by the inancial sector in our economies, the Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 investigated the ways and means governments, policy makers, regulators and supervisors could follow, in a consistent manner, to frame the appropriate enabling environment to ensure the contribution of this key industry to a sustainable, resilient and inclusive economy and society, primarily through its corporate sustainability reporting. The publication of Sustainability Reporting in the Financial Sector – A Governmental Approach, the irst report of its kind, is very timely. Indeed, it is today duly acknowledged that the private inance sector has a central role to play in the ight against climate change. One of the major outcomes of the December 2015 Paris Agreement is the up-front recognition of the role inancial actors must play in “making inance lows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”. More generally, they are expected to make these inancial lows consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Third International Conference on Financing for Development, Addis Ababa). Financial actors have also strongly committed to it as the Paris Pledge for Action illustrates. In order to have the capacity to monitor their contribution, sustainability reporting is a paramount and powerful tool both for corporate actors and policy makers. An incentive regulatory framework is essential to ensure the effectiveness of these business commitments. The inancial industry, through its lending and investment activities (whether project inancing or asset management), has a major leveraging effect in fostering responsible and transparent management practices at global, national and regional scales. In this respect, inancial actors have a special responsibility towards society, which should be strongly considered to form an integral part of their iduciary duty. Since the global inancial crisis in 2008 and albeit a stringent reinforcement of its regulatory environment, it is patent that the sector has not been aligned with a sustainable future. Such an alignment requires targeted and sector-relevant science-based disclosure of key material sustainability data and narrative. 5 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Taking the advantage of its diversity, the Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 is in a unique position to provide food for thought to policy makers who wish to engage in the development of an enabling regulatory extra-inancial reporting environment for the inancial industry. Understanding industry dynamics through a thorough evaluation of the impact and contribution to sustainable development is vital to strengthen the outcome of public policies. We strongly believe in the power of sharing experience. Building on the evaluation of our members’ national case studies, this report aims to guide policy makers and regulators on the most suitable paths to develop a sound sustainable reporting public policy, considering country-speciic and regional characteristics while bearing in mind the need for quality sustainability reporting that is relevant, comparable and auditable. To meet this objective in a timely manner, one among the many lessons learned when working on this report is that it has become very clear that self-regulation is far from enough in the inance industry. Strong leadership is therefore required by governments who have several tools as highlighted in the various national case studies provided in this report. Robin Edme Chair of the Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 French Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea 6 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management Finance is key to a functioning economy and society. The global inancial system has changed rapidly during the past decades – and has raised a growing concern on its suitability for future generations. Money is lowing all over the world at the speed of light while labour force and production are limited in their possibilities to change places. Decisions of investors to get involved in projects scale up to the performance of economic sectors, national economies, and to impacts on a global level. Adverse effects caused by ruptures and failures in the inancial system are spread extremely fast and persist over a long period. Finding political solutions to reform the system in a sustainable manner takes much longer. Even in 2016, eight years after the beginning of the 2008 crisis, it is a long way to transpose solutions in a way that strengthen the resilience of inancial systems and contribute to a lowcarbon, circular economy. Aligning investment decisions and other inancial services by the public and private sector with environmental, social and governance criteria will contribute to stabilizing the inancial system and will be instrumental in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The global report of the UNEP Inquiry of 20151 argues that “there is now a historic opportunity to shape a inancial system that can more effectively inance the development of an inclusive, green economy. This opportunity is based on a growing trend in policy innovation from central banks, inancial regulators and standard setters, who are incorporating sustainability factors into the rules that govern the inancial system.” The European Commission has recently announced that it will develop a comprehensive European strategy on green inance in the coming months.2 One way to identify and transpose good solutions is the exchange of approaches through peer learning mechanisms. Since 2012, the Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 has been pivotal in describing, sharing and advocating policy measures developed by the public and the private sector to promote sustainability performance and disclosure. This Financial Sector Report, illustrating the approaches of different GoF47 member countries and beyond them, provides for a “learning environment” to explore the spectrum of policy approaches contributing to a inancial system that performs in a sustainable manner. The speciic framework of the report and the appendix 1 The Financial System We Need: http://web.unep.org/inquiry/publications) 2 http://ec.europa.eu/inance/capital-markets-union/docs/20160913-cmu-accelerating-reform_en.pdf 7 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR allow comparing different policy instruments and methods in a structured way. Best practice examples of GoF47 Public Financial Institutions show that governments can walk their talk by setting the framework of transparency disclosure for state-owned inancial service providers. Wolfram Tertschnig Director Division of Environmental Aid Policy, Sustainability, Biodiversity 8 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR UN Environment Governments play a decisive role in creating an enabling environment for corporate transparency. This report, Sustainability Reporting in the Financial Sector – A Governmental Approach, developed by the Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 and UN Environment, responds to the need for an enhanced understanding of how policy makers can align the inancial sector to sustainable development. The 2008 inancial crisis has reinforced civil society’s calls for more responsible investment practices. The international community increasingly recognizes the importance of the inancial sector in shaping a global economy characterised by high capital mobility across borders, and in being a crucial player to achieve sustainable development. As a decision-making tool that encourages public accountability, sustainability reporting can help stakeholders assess the allocation of capital and direct inancial resources towards sustainable economic activities in an open and transparent fashion. By focusing on governmental approaches to corporate reporting, this Report offers solutions that link and contribute to the work of UN Environment’s Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System. One of the key indings of this research is that one single sustainability reporting instrument is rarely appropriate, given the diversity of the inancial industry. Instead, policy makers may need to apply a combination of instruments. The publication also points to signiicant challenges, starting from the lack of sectoral research. While the inancial sector over time has become one of the main producers of sustainability reports, it remains dificult to evaluate their usefulness for readers. More harmonized data is clearly needed. Another key challenge points to the need for coherence in combining sustainability disclosure requirements and the numerous regulations already targeting the sector. The way ahead may be complex, yet the beneits will by far outweigh the efforts. This report emphasizes the need for stronger collaboration between governments, the private sector, civil society and international organisations, an approach at the core of UN Environment’s values. We encourage all stakeholders to join hands in order to build the inancial system, and the future, that we want. Ligia Noronha Director Economy Division UN Environment 9 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 1. Introduction 1.1 Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 The Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 (GoF47) was created ahead of the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD/ Rio +20) by the governments of Brazil, Denmark, France and South Africa. The GoF47’s objective is to support sustainable development through sustainability reporting, transparency and disclosure, in line with Paragraph 47 of the Rio +20 Outcome Document, The Future We Want3. Since 2012, the founding members have been joined by the governments of Argentina, Austria, Chile, Colombia, Norway and Switzerland. UN Environment and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) provide technical and coordination support to the Group in a Secretariat capacity. The GoF47 recognises the primary role that governments play in moving society towards a sustainable model of development. Governments have the ability to apply ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ policy and legal instruments that can positively inluence corporate behaviour. The GoF47 intends to bring governments and other stakeholders together to develop best practice examples of policy and regulation for promoting corporate sustainability reporting – using stateowned inancial enterprises to set the example4. The GoF47 believes that sustainability reporting is necessary for transparent, well‐functioning market economies and for increasing the contribution of the private sector to sustainable development. It promotes the use of existing and widely used sustainability reporting principles, indicators and frameworks, with an emphasis on scaling up and including SMEs and developing countries. The GoF47 promotes the exchange of experiences, best practice policies, continuous learning and an on-going emphasis on requirements for sustainability reporting in international negotiations. It has published several reports and conducted a number of dialogues with key stakeholder groups. 3 http://www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture 4 As expressed in the GoF47 working paper Walking the talk: Leading by example through State-Owned Enterprise / Public Agency Reporting: https://www.globalreporting.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/2014/GoF47%20-%20 Walking%20the%20Talk%20-%20Nov2014.pdf 10 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 1.2 Research Methodology 1.2.1 GoF47 Framework for Policy Evaluation The framework outlined below (the full tool is provided in Appendix 2) forms the foundation for the case studies in this report. It is directly based on the Framework for Policy Evaluation developed for the GoF47 report Evaluating National Policies on Corporate Sustainability Reporting (2015)5. As such, it takes into account the criteria for effective policy evaluation, including a policy’s clarity of purpose, scope and application as well as its eficiency and effectiveness. The framework allows for a differentiated analysis of outcomes and impacts, which may not always be aligned. It can be applied to countries that have had policies in place for some time as well as to those that have adopted policies more recently: 1. POLICY EVOLUTION • • Context Process 2. POLICY DESIGN • • • • • • Objectives Applicability Scope and requirements Reporting approach Incentives and penalties References 3. POLICY MONITORING • • • Interpretation and response Effect on reporting quantity and quality (impact) Effectiveness against objectives (success) Key questions to address in each phase include: Policy Evolution What was the existing policy environment? Were there policies already in 5 http://www.unep.org/resourceeficiency/Business/SustainableandResponsibleBusiness/ CorporateSustainabilityReporting/GroupofFriendsofParagraph47/EvaluatingNationalPolicies/tabid/1060229/Default.aspx 11 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR place related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) on which a new policy could be built? What were the national drivers and pressures for increased transparency? Which stakeholders were involved in negotiating the policy content? What were the main points of contestation and how were they resolved? Policy Design Is the objective of the policy clearly described? Who should apply the policy? Is the policy linked to other corporate reporting legislation? Is the policy complex and dificult to understand? Does it take a rules-based or principlesbased approach? Does it deine which sustainability issues to report on and how it should be done? What are the requirements for compiling and publishing the report? Is it explicit in the requirements for reporters to be in compliance? Does the policy have any built-in mechanisms to ensure compliance? Does it specify any incentives or penalties? Who veriies compliance? How is enforcement administered where there is no mandatory veriication of compliance (e.g. by a third party)? Does it refer to international frameworks or regional/transnational policies? Policy Monitoring What has been the effect (impact) of the policy on reporting or the achievement of sustainable development policy objectives – either estimated or known through studies or research? Is the policy on track to achieve its objectives? Does the policy align with international expectations and best practices? 1.2.2 Scope of this Report This report takes a detailed look at reporting by the inancial sector. It explores the variety of laws, regulations, codes and voluntary initiatives that have driven reporting, illustrated through case studies. We recognise the differences between the terms policy, legislation and regulation, and will highlight these differences in the case studies. The framework generally uses ‘policy’ as shorthand for all three. We also recognise that countries have taken different approaches. For instance, France and Colombia have a mandatory ‘push’ approach through legislation while countries like Brazil and South Africa follow the ‘pull’ approach adopted by stock exchanges who have incorporated reporting into their stock exchange or securities listing requirements and through adoption 12 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR of voluntary codes. We note that in countries like Switzerland, public pressure for greater transparency is a signiicant factor in changing behaviour. The imposition of appropriate sanctions through any mechanism is not simple. Companies in many jurisdictions may face multiple requirements from different regulators requiring them to report on some – if not all - of the sustainability requirements. Regulators that exercise authority over the sector include inancial services regulators, regulators of companies, stock exchanges as well as authorities that may impose requirements to report on various social, environmental and labour requirements. Not all of these will result in easily accessible information to stakeholders but, if available in the public domain, it could provide a signiicant amount of the information needed for sustainability reporting. In addition to general requirements imposed on all companies or organizations (e.g. South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment Act and Employment Equity Act or France’s extrainancial reporting provision), as well as speciic requirements applicable to companies within a certain segment of the inancial industry (e.g. France’s Monetary and Financial Code on reporting by asset management companies). Within each approach, we may also ind variations in the formulation that combines elements of both. This report will describe and compare different approaches and consider how each may – or may not – be effective in bringing about the desired outcomes. The resulting case studies will serve as important guidance for policy makers to design or improve their requirements. 1.3 Why the Focus on the Financial Sector? As was seen in the wake of the 2008 global inancial crisis, the activities of the inancial sector affect individuals and businesses both nationally and globally. The inancial services industry is a backbone of the real economy as it is a provider of inancial capital. It is the essential piece in doing business around the globe and is potentially a key driver for achieving the transition to an inclusive, low carbon and resource eficient economy. However, since the global inancial crisis, it has become clear that the sector has not been fully aligned to a sustainable future. The current level of mobilisation of the world’s inancial capital is insuficient6 for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and for the Paris Agreement7 reached at 6 http://web.unep.org/inquiry 7 http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php 13 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR COP218 to limit global warming to less than 2°C, if not 1.5°C. Due to its lending and investment activities, the sector has the potential for major multiplier effects if it adopts and disseminates responsible and transparent practices throughout the inancial capital value chain. Its decisions to fund, or not to fund, to invest or not to invest, and its views on what is too risky to insure and what risks are acceptable, send strong signals to the economy and can provoke rapid change and adaptation. The sector encompasses a signiicant range of activities and of public and private money including: • Development aid and infrastructure investments; • The dispersion of public funds; • Public and private retirement savings and investments; • The deposit and use of privately held earnings and savings; • Investments of all kinds including those in listed equities or securities; • Corporate project inance, investment and commercial banking; • Transactional banking; • Mortgage and home loan inance; • Insurance. Sustainability reporting can be a decisive tool when transitioning to a sustainable economy. The UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System and the World Federation of Exchanges as well as numerous other players, including front-running asset owners and managers, are calling for more targeted and sector-relevant disclosure of key sustainability data. The needs of a sustainable future have been examined in detail in international negotiations and are set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in the Sustainable Development Goals which were agreed in 2015, and in the commitment by Heads of State and Government to inancing mechanisms for their effective implementation, as stated in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA)9. The AAAA recognised 100 concrete actions critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. All these initiatives recognise the instrumental role of sustainability reporting in building a sustainable future. The GoF47 evaluated intergovernmental and national initiatives on 8 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 9 Addis Ababa Action Agreement: www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/.../AAAA_Outcome.pdf 14 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR sustainability reporting (SR) for the inancial sector and best practice examples of sustainability disclosure by public sector inancial institutions, in order to develop actionable policy recommendations for governments. The indings and recommendations of this report will support the Member Governments of the GoF47 in providing global leadership to advance sustainability reporting in the inancial sector. TABLE 1 KEY INDUSTRIES WITHIN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR PUBLIC/ PRIVATE KEY ACTIVITY SOURCES OF CAPITAL INDUSTRY SPECIFIC TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVES Retail Savings Both models exist Transactional banking and saving/credit instruments for individuals or smaller organizations Deposits of wages, salaries, beneits, pensions Financial sector supplements GRI, etc., or national banking associations central banks UNEP FI Commercial Investment Usually privately owned (some stock exchange listed) Transactional banking; Project inance; issue of bonds, etc., at competitive interest rates Deposits, revenues and investments, international borrowing Equator Principles BANKING INDUSTRY IFC performance standards and similar. Local initiatives such as China’s Green Credit Guidelines, Nigeria’s Sustainable Banking Principles Basel Committee requiring risk disclosure Development Finance national and multinational 15 Usually public Financing large scale infrastructure development and public entities such as local authorities National taxes, sovereign wealth funds, donor funds Self designed, modelled on IFC performance standards and relecting national priorities SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR INVESTMENTS BANKING INDUSTRY 16 Central Banks PUBLIC/ PRIVATE KEY ACTIVITY SOURCES OF CAPITAL INDUSTRY SPECIFIC TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVES Public Control national money supply, regulate inancial services and government funding Taxes and investments Nationally determined Investments national and international to secure future revenue for retirement or pension funding Employee and employer contributions and revenue earned from investments – dividends, etc. PRI Basel Committee (risk modelling and reporting) Institutional investments Long term collective (e.g. pension funds) Both Retail investments Largely private Trade in stocks and shared for revenue Private savings --- Stock or securities exchanges Usually private Market place, rules and regulations for the open trading of securities or shares in companies or instruments that meet listings requirements Companies, institutional and retail investors SRI indices AODP Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR INSURANCE INVESTMENTS INDUSTRY PUBLIC/ PRIVATE KEY ACTIVITY SOURCES OF CAPITAL INDUSTRY SPECIFIC TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVES Asset Management Both public and private Investment analysts and specialists who manage portfolios on behalf of clients Mainly institutional investors like government, pension funds, companies, individuals through collective product offerings Growing number of initiatives calling on asset managers to reveal their ESG criteria, if any, and voting behaviour Long term Largely private as many governments self-insure Long term health and life insurance, retirement insurance and similar products Investment of Principles for Individual and Sustainable or company Insurance contributions based on actuarial models Short term Private and public Asset insurance Cost recovery and investment based on services provided --- 1.4 The Leadership Factor Leadership, whether by government or other actors, such as the NGOs driving some of the voluntary codes, is critical to the success of all of these initiatives. Meaningful reporting requires either a pull or a push from government, from the market or from stakeholders. Some companies focus on compliance while others focus on reputational risks, peer or consumer pressure. A few set the pace based on internal values and beliefs. What is clear is that the frameworks 17 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR and methodologies must be relevant and targeted to ensure that the reporting leads to accountability, transparency and behaviour change where it is required. 1.5 Current State of Reporting in the Financial Sector There is a commonly held public perception that reporting by the Financial Sector is inadequate and not adequately focused on material issues such that their primary impact is on funding or investing rather than in their operations. This has led to a signiicant growth in issue-speciic or activity-speciic reporting frameworks such as those required by Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)10 when on-lending to commercial or regional banks. Banks, as borrowers from DFIs, are confronted with numerous frameworks against which they must report and have frequently called for the harmonisation of frameworks and practices for reporting to the sources of capital and other key stakeholders in order to improve the quality of the reporting and reduce administrative costs – which get passed on to bank clients. Issue-speciic approaches to drive transparency, such as the Asset Owners Disclosure Project, or others that cover institutional investors such as the PRI transparency framework, tend to target certain parts of the inancial sector – speciically long-term investors who wield the most inluence in the view of the stakeholders involved in devising the systems. Many of these frameworks are voluntary and limited in what is reported. Some are focused on, for example, carbon emissions. The only real sanctions they can apply if reporting is incomplete or inadequate, is for a company not to appear in the leadership or investment ranking. In most cases companies have to opt in voluntarily or as a result of association membership, to speciically join each initiative. Few of these initiatives on their own provide a complete picture of the reporting organization’s sustainability based on all material environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. There is little hard, independent, global data on the state of sustainability reporting by this signiicant sector. This report has therefore drawn statistics 10 IFC Performance Standards are the most commonly used standards for performance in key environmental and social activities and have been adopted, and sometimes adapted by many DFIs, along with the Exclusions lists, which set out those activities or sectors in which the IFC or any of the DFIs are unwilling to participate. Each DFI, including the IFC, then requires borrowing institutions to report on their performance in the use of the borrowed funds, how the appropriate performance standards have been applied, etc. Commercial banks with lines of credit with several banks can ind themselves reporting in multiple formats. http://www.norfund.no/a-responsible-investor/environment-and-social-standards-article516-454.html http://www.edi.be/news/news/31-iis-harmonization-initiative.html 18 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR from a KPMG 2015 report11 and from the GRI database12 for the period 20132015 as a proxy. In its survey of global trends in CR reporting, KPMG reports that among the 100 companies it surveyed, 17% were classiied as inancial services sector companies using the International Classiication Benchmark System. The next largest sector, for example, was the technology, media and telecoms sector which represented 10% of those surveyed. The GRI data reveals that inancial sector companies produce a signiicant number of the sustainability reports in the database. However, without further research, no insights can be drawn about the quality or comprehensive nature of the reports produced as the data does not give granularity regarding the subsectors producing the reports and whether these provide information and analysis on key issues. Nor is there a comprehensive understanding that would indicate whether the number of reports simply relects a larger sector with many more potential reporters (i.e. the industry is large) or whether there are more reporters within the industry report on sustainability issues than the comparative percentage for other sectors. Data about assurance is available in the GRI database, but does not provide a view on whether the assurance covers all indicators or not and experience indicates that in most instances it does not cover all aspects because of the cost and complexity of providing such wide-ranging experience. Nor can conclusions be drawn about whether the quantum of reports relects comprehensive coverage of the sector. The data includes reports that use the GRI standards (G3, G3.1 and G4), reports that make reference to GRI as well as other sustainability or integrated reports, which have come to the GRI’s attention. No sub-categorization is made within the inancial sector, so it is not clear what percentage of the reports are produced by subsectors such as asset managers, banks or insurance companies nor what portfolio related indicators are covered. As can be seen from Figure 1, the geographic spread of reports brought to the attention of the GRI have a somewhat uneven geographic spread. 11 www.kpmg.com/crreporting page 45 12 GRI database 2 November 2015, the database is regularly updated. 19 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 20 FIGURE 1 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTS PER REGION FIGURE 2 REPORTS PER SECTOR, G4 (LATEST STANDARD) SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 21 FIGURE 3 REPORTS PER SECTOR, G3/3.1 (EARLIER GUIDELINES) FIGURE 4 COMPARISON OF SECTOR REPRESENTATION OF GRI REPORTS SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 2. Findings and Recommendations The following indings and recommendations are drawn from the analysis of national and international initiatives and policies that can be found in chapters 3, 4, and 5 of this publication, and in particular from the case studies of GoF47 countries. 2.1. Key Findings 1. The Financial Sector is a key enabler i. The inancial services industry is diverse and complex, encompassing several industries or subsectors, such as retail and commercial lending, development inance, insurance, long-term savings and asset management, each of which plays an important but different role in providing the services required for a successful global economy. ii. The breadth of the sector and the diverse understanding of “sustainability reporting” make it dificult to apply a single framework and to achieve the same level of depth in the outcomes across the sector. iii. Speciic subsectors would therefore play somewhat different roles in promoting or delivering transparency and disclosure with the ultimate goal of promoting sustainable development. iv. Little evidence could be found of meaningful sanctions for poor quality reporting or failure to meet legal, regulatory or even voluntary standards set for disclosure. v. The regulatory focus appears to be on long-term investors, such as pension funds and asset managers, to include ESG factors into their decision-making. In addition, development inanciers are required to report on their ESG considerations by their providers of capital (mostly governments individually or collectively through institutions such as the World Bank or the International Finance Corporation). vi. Promoting transparency and disclosure in order to achieve a more sustainable global economy will require more targeted and detailed disclosure on key issues relevant to each subsector. However, crossindustry common disclosures on a number of limited issues is possible and in many cases desirable. vii. The understanding of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility varies between different parts of the industry, institutions and organizations. viii. It is unlikely that a single approach would work in all countries and for all parts of this diverse industry but that does not negate the need 22 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR to strive towards focus and some measure of comparability to enable decision-makers to assess the success and relevance of the initiatives as part of a continual improvement process. ix. Both the quality and quantity of the reports require attention and there is a need for frequent independent research. x. The relative success of the privately driven issue speciic or sub-sector speciic transparency initiatives, such as the CDP and the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP), points to one way to gain momentum in promoting transparency. The success of such initiatives lies in providing positive proiles for leaders and potential reputational impact for laggards. These initiatives are more successful when stakeholders such as governments, industry bodies and opinion formers encourage, promote and support their use. 2. Impacts and contributions at product and service level i. While some global universal inancial sector companies do have an operational footprint - particularly in energy consumption related to data transfer and the footprint of their retail branches - the multiplier effect is generally created when they extend products and services into the market. ii. More meaningful measures and metrics are needed to provide a barometer of the impact of the inancial services sector up and down the value chain. However, the complexity of these should not be underestimated. iii. Transparency does not fully extend to products and services across the sector nor does it fully incorporate the consequences, impacts or outcomes of inancial sector practice. While a bank may provide ‘green inancing’ for renewable energy, it may also, for example, provide traditional inancing to heavy impact sectors. Asset managers may be able to account for the assets under management (AUM) which track sustainability reporting indices. 3. Common policy observations i. Governments seeking to institute new policy measures on disclosure about sustainability issues within the inancial sector should consider involving the numerous intergovernmental departments (such as inancial regulators, trade and industry departments and others involved in key aspects of sustainability such as social and environmental areas). The supervision of the sector is usually under the remit of the ministries of inance or the treasury. ii. International sector regulatory bodies, such as the Basel Committee have a role to play in the sector’s evaluation and reporting of risk and 23 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR reporting mechanisms. iii. Many countries appear to have started with a mix of voluntary and mandatory approaches, and with a mix of drivers from both the public and private sectors as illustrated by the initiatives in France, Brazil and South Africa, for example (see chapter 4). iv. Both rules based and principles based requirements exist. v. Principles based and “comply or explain”13 requirements currently appear to enjoy greater prominence in that this is part of the GRI G4 guidelines, the International Integrated Reporting Framework and various codes and stock exchanges driving transparency. It is also an inherent part of the French law. vi. The inancial sector as a whole is governed under complex and divergent laws and regulations as well as soft law. It typically reports via a variety of ministries and/or the treasury. Commercial banks, for example, could report to departments that deal with company legislation, credit regulators, as well as to central banks, which take their cue from national monetary policy and committees such as the Basel Committee. Commercial banks may in addition be governed under companies’ acts or codes as well as stock exchange regulations if they are listed companies. Commercial banks that borrow money internationally could also be contractually bound to comply with ESG requirements that are conditions precedent for being granted loans by multilateral banks and development inance institutions that are focused on sustainable development. 4. Limitations of transparency i. Transparency serves many purposes: it enables but does not necessarily lead to sustainable development. ii. Transparency has not always driven better performance. To be fully transparent both process and outcomes (or impact) should be reported. iii. The strength of many voluntary reporting frameworks, such as the CDP and the AODP, is that they are accompanied by independent critical annual analytical reviews, which are publicly available and drive both better reporting and performance improvements. 5. Voluntary initiatives can play a key role i. Research shows that a signiicant number of private sector and NGOled initiatives are being widely used to promote issue-speciic disclosure, particularly within the climate change arena. 13 The “Comply or Explain” principle is often also referred to as “Report or Explain” or “Apply or Explain”. 24 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR ii. Voluntary reporting frameworks provide important market-driven motivators to the corporate sector as evidenced by the signiicant growth in reporting to the UN Global Compact, CDP and the growing, global use of reporting frameworks (such as the GRI’s) by major corporations even where no reporting requirement has been introduced by the government. As such, they assist in building reporting skills and the development of indicators and reporting methodologies. However, they do not have the capacity to achieve the uptake of sustainability reporting at scale and across all of the key indicators on their own. iii. Voluntary frameworks harness the signiicant expertise of the nongovernmental sector in building the measures and indicators most relevant to critical subsectors. iv. Broader coverage of the sector can be achieved by combining voluntary initiatives and market-based instruments with regulation. 6. Voluntary initiatives can serve as inspiration and provide opportunities i. Building on existing voluntary initiatives could provide governments with fast improvements in terms of building credible and enabling environments for disclosure and thereby harness the signiicant work of experts that has already been incorporated into these voluntary frameworks. ii. Opportunities exist for the GoF47 to coordinate engagement with voluntary initiatives to create greater alignment of goals and methodologies and advance in the harmonisation of reporting frameworks for the inancial sector that meet the needs of all stakeholders. Reporting on greenhouse gas emissions could provide an entry point, as this is the environmental area that has reached the strongest level of maturity in sustainability reporting and is a key challenge ahead of us as it was unanimously recognised at COP21 and in the Paris Agreement.14 7. Reporting scope and quality i. During 2014-15, disclosure on a limited number of issues, such as climate change, has been driven by a variety of government and nongovernmental factors and now covers signiicant parts of the global economy – including the inancial sector. Not all aspects of sustainable development are equally covered. ii. Stimulating academic research into coverage and quality of transparency and sustainability reporting by the sector would be useful to 14 http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php 25 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR determine whether it is below the international average. 2.2. Key Recommendations for the GoF47 1. Disseminate the lessons learned from countries which have already implemented policies for inancial sector disclosure and which have undertaken analysis of the success (or lack of success) in increasing meaningful disclosure. 2. Work with the relevant stakeholders (reporting framework developers, stock exchanges, industry associations, business leaders, civil society organizations, etc.) to identify the most critical reporting needs and promote stronger alignment of guidance tools for sustainability disclosure that can be applied or adapted by countries or ministries – building on those that currently exist, including single issue voluntary frameworks. 3. Endorse the use of the GoF47 Framework for Policy Evaluation as a tool for use by countries and regulators to promote improved regulation and requirements. 2.3 Recommendations for Policy Makers 1. Secure political champions in appropriate government departments that regulate or supervise the inancial services sector. 2. Establish public sector leadership and set the example by regulating the disclosures by state-owned inancial sector companies to improve disclosure, governance and accountability in the disbursement of tax revenues. 3. Create, support and harness the power of public-private partnerships to drive improvement in the reporting frameworks and analytical review of results. 4. Progression from voluntary to mandatory reporting requirements should be considered once the instruments are tested and reporting systems have been built up to ensure that the reports create a pull /push effect for improved performance. 5. Reward and recognise front-runners. 6. Set longer-term goals, milestones and minimum expectations for reporting by the inancial sector (or key subsectors) to move from creating a reporting requirement to ensuring that it remains current, relevant and delivers the changes in performance and behaviour that is required. 7. Consider working with the numerous private sector and NGO initiatives such as the World Federation of Stock Exchanges, the Asset Owners Disclosure Project, the Carbon Disclosure Project, the Global 26 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative and the Integrated Reporting Council, etc., to build on the methodological work already undertaken for the development of it-for-purpose reporting frameworks for the different subsectors of the inancial services industry to close the gap between market-relevant information and the broader sustainability reporting guidelines. 27 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 3. Finance Sector Speciic International Initiatives 3.1 Addis Ababa Action Agreement Finance is regarded as the mainstay for achieving the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by world leaders in New York during September 2015. The SDGs have been developed with a holistic approach to address global priorities across all the pillars of sustainable development, including ending poverty and hunger, reducing social inequality, tackling climate change, and preserving the planet’s natural resources. More than 100 concrete measures are deined in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA). It addresses all sources of inance, and covers cooperation on a range of issues including technology, science, innovation, trade and capacity building. The AAAA also stresses the necessity of aligning private investment with sustainable development, coupled with public policies and regulatory frameworks that provide the appropriate incentives. The international community also agreed on a new mechanism to facilitate inancing for new technologies in developing countries.15 The agreement includes: • Technology Facilitation to improve collaboration among governments, private sector, civil society, the scientiic community, United Nations entities and other stakeholders; • A Global Infrastructure Forum to address infrastructure gaps and highlight opportunities for investment and cooperation on projects that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable; • New social compact and social protection systems supporting the poor and vulnerable; • Taxing harmful substances to discourage consumption and increase revenue; 15 http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffd3/press-release/countries-reach-historic-agreement.html 28 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR • Promoting affordable and stable access to credit for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, implementing a global strategy for youth employment and the International Labour Organization Global Jobs Pact by 2020; • Achieving the goal of 0.7% of gross national income for foreign aid; • Strengthening least developed countries through inancial and technical support; • Strengthening international cooperation in tax matters; • Mobilizing US$100 billion per year by 2020 to combat climate change and to phase out ineficient fossil fuel subsidies.16 The agreement acknowledges the important role of corporate sustainability reporting to reach the global objectives: • As a means to ensure corporate transparency and accountability in support of a behavioural change towards sustainable consumption and production patterns that protect ecosystems. • As an integral component of the sustainable corporate practices that are needed to foster well-functioning domestic and international private business and inance, along with the integration of ESG issues into core business models and impact investing. The AAAA recognises the need for “transparent methodologies for reporting climate inance” (AAAA, paragraph 6017 of the Outcome document). The measures emphasized in the AAAA are in line with the recommendations set by the GoF47 in its publication Evaluating National Policies on Corporate Sustainability Reporting. The Agenda promotes sustainable corporate practices, including integrating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into company reporting as appropriate, to help ensure transparency and accountability. It leaves space for countries to decide on the appropriate balance of voluntary and mandatory rules18. Furthermore, it recognizes the need for transparent methodologies for climate inance reporting. 16 http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffd3/press-release/countries-reach-historic-agreement.html 17 http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AAAA_Outcome.pdf 18 Recommendation n° 5 of Evaluating National Policies on Corporate Sustainability Reporting: “Consider a combination of mandatory and voluntary measures”. 29 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 3.2 The Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System The Inquiry19 was initiated by UN Environment with a mandate to explore and advance policy options to align the inancial system with sustainable development, with the objective of increasing the effectiveness of mobilizing capital towards a green and inclusive economy. In its 2015 report, The Financial System We Need, the Inquiry looked at the realignment the global inancial system would require, following the 2008 global inancial crisis, to become stable and sustainable. The Inquiry concluded that a “quiet revolution” is already happening as policy makers and inancial regulators take action to build strong and sustainable inancial systems for the needs of the 21st century. The report argues that concepts such as natural wealth and the circular, green economy have moved from the margins to become the substance of economic strategies and policies for businesses and nations. The Inquiry’s indings and proposals indicate that the inancial system can be transformed to better serve the needs of sustainable development. Moreover, such a transformation is essentially a matter of public choice – one that is being made in an increasing number of countries and across a growing portion of the inancial system. Signiicantly, for the GoF47, the Inquiry considers aspects of inancial and monetary policies and inancial regulations, as well as standards, including disclosure requirements, credit ratings, listing requirements and indices. The Inquiry also focuses on the number of different rule makers for the inancial sector and their roles. They include central banks, inancial regulators, inance ministries, other government departments, standards institutions, and market-based standard-setters such as stock exchanges, and key international organizations and platforms. 3.3 Financial Stability Board Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures The Financial Stability Board (FSB) coordinates the work of international 19 www.unep.org/inquiry 30 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR standard-setting bodies and national inancial authorities in the elaboration of inancial sector policies that strengthen inancial stability through regulation and supervision, among others. It fosters a level playing ield by encouraging coherent implementation of these policies across sectors and jurisdictions.20 Risks related to climate change are expected to increase in the coming years and the manner in which they are managed will depend, among others, on public and private stakeholders’ capacity to access high quality sustainability information.21 The FSB therefore received a mandate from the G20 to work with organisations from the public and private spheres to assess how annual reporting by inancial institutions can integrate climate-related issues. The FSB established the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures in December 2015 with a work plan in two phases: • Phase I: Determining the deinition and level of ambition of eficient and effective disclosure on climate-related physical, liability and transition risks, taking into account the information needs of users of this information for investment, credit, and insurance underwriting decisions. To this end, the Task Force issued a irst report in March 2016 including a set of fundamental principles of disclosure. This irst deliverable presents a framework and guidance for the recommendations that will emerge from the second phase of the Task Force’s work. • Phase II: Elaborating recommendations and guidelines for “consistent, comparable, reliable, clear and eficient”22 voluntary corporate disclosures in the area of climate-related risks, to be delivered in a inal report at the end of 2016. Task Force members include private providers of capital, issuers, rating agencies and accounting irms.23 Throughout its activities, the Task Force seeks to engage with a diverse range of stakeholders (including companies, public sector representatives, non-proit organisations and academia) and to conduct public consultations. Fundamental Principles for Effective Climate-Related Disclosures As indicated above, the irst phase of the Task Force’s work has determined seven fundamental principles: 20 http://www.fsb.org/about/ 21 https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/bloomberg-to-head-climate-risk-taskforce-to-bring-greatertransparency-for-investors/ 22 https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Phase_I_Report_v15.pdf 23 https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Phase_I_Report_v15.pdf 31 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 1. Present relevant information; 2. Be speciic and complete; 3. Be clear, balanced, and understandable; 4. Be consistent over time; 5. Be comparable among companies within a sector, industry, or portfolio; 6. Be reliable, veriiable, and objective; and 7. Be provided on a timely basis.24 Terms of Reference for Phase II In order to set out recommendations for voluntary climate-related disclosures in inancial reports, the second phase of the Task Force’s mandate will be based on the fundamental principles above and will focus on the inancial impact of climate change on companies’ businesses. Overall, good governance processes should ensure the quality of disclosures, which should be as speciic and complete as possible in informing about the material impacts of climate change on the company’s operations and its risk management strategy.25 3.4 UNEP Finance Initiative The UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) is a global partnership between UN Environment and the inancial sector. More than 200 inancial institutions, including banks, fund managers and insurance irms, work with UN Environment to understand and analyse the effects of environmental and social issues on organizations’ inancial performance. UNEP FI’s work is conducted through commissions on banking, insurance and investment and working groups on thematic issues. UNEP FI has played a signiicant role in mobilizing inance for renewable energy and energy eficiency and in focusing the property development sector on green buildings thereby increasing energy eficiency and lowering carbon emissions from the commercial environment. While it does not have a unique, mandatory reporting requirement, it strongly promotes best practice disclosure relevant to the sector. A number of initiatives have stemmed from UNEP FI, including the Principles for Responsible Investment and the Equator Principles, which is now an 24 https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Phase_I_Report_v15.pdf 25 https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Phase_I_Report_v15.pdf 32 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR independent member-driven organization that operates on a voluntary basis. 3.5 Principles for Responsible Investment The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)26 were created in 2006 under the auspices of the UNEP Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact and supported by the Government of Switzerland, amongst others. There are 1,48127 signatories with more than US$59 trillion in assets under management who have signed the six principles. Signatories are institutional investors, who recognize a duty to act in the long-term interests of their beneiciaries and that ESG issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios. The principles can be summarized as: 1. Incorporating ESG issues into investment analysis and decisionmaking processes 2. Active ownership and incorporation of ESG into ownership policies and practices 3. Seek disclosure of ESG issues by the investees 4. Promotion of the Principles within the investment industry 5. Collaboration to enhance investors’ effectiveness in implementing the Principles 6. Reporting on investors’ activities and progress towards implementing the Principles In its 2015-2018 strategic plan the PRI highlights the redevelopment of its reporting framework. It currently holds 800 transparency reports on its websites. These are reports against a PRI template with a series of YES/NO and multiplechoice questions speciically related to the investment and voting processes that asset managers employ. Environmental, social and governance issues addressed under the framework deal with demographics, national resource constraints, externalities, climate change, inequality, human rights and corruption. An opportunity exists for the GoF47 to work with the PRI in the redevelopment of its reporting framework to create greater alignment of goals and methodologies. 26 www.unpri.org 27 As of February 2016 33 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 3.6 Conclusion The current focus on the inancial sector through speciic international initiatives, including of intergovernmental nature, provides an opportunity for policy makers to introduce or strengthen their national initiatives. This increased awareness could be used to drive transparency, disclosure and behavioural change in the sector with a view to achieving sustainable development goals and addressing key global challenges. 34 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 4. National Case Studies from GoF47 countries 4.1 Legal Requirements for Sustainability Reporting: The Colombian and French Examples The laws analysed in this chapter were developed in very different contexts and both set a national precedent in sustainability reporting of inancial institutions. In France, Article 173 of the Energy Transition for Green Growth Law28 built upon the existing requirements introduced by Articles 224 and 225 of the Law on National Commitment for the Environment29. Article 224 emerged from a background of several soft law instruments that promote socially responsible investment (SRI) and sustainability reporting to a minor extent, whereas, in Colombia, Article 96 of the Law 1328 of 2009 was the irst legislative instrument applying to inancial institutions. COLOMBIA: A CORNERSTONE OF SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN LATIN AMERICA30 Before 2009, disclosure of social and environmental issues was a wellestablished practice among a number of Colombian inancial institutions, which voluntarily followed international standards, despite the absence of formal requirements. The introduction of Article 96 of Law 1328 in 2009 constituted a milestone in the development of instruments that promoted transparency in the inancial sector. Since the adoption of Law 132831 of 2009, which opened up the Colombian insurance market to liberalization and in Article 96 introduced a voluntary requirement to report, two new instruments that increase disclosure of ESG 28 Law no 2015-992 of 17th August 2015 29 Law no 2010-788 of 12th July 2010 30 http://www.unep.org/resourceeficiency/Business/SustainableandResponsibleBusiness/ CorporateSustainabilityReporting/GroupofFriendsofParagraph47/PoliciesandInitiatives/PolicyUpdates 31 ARTICLE 96. “In order to promote the adoption and voluntary development of social responsibility activities by the inancial, insurance and stock market system, the programme of social balance is hereby created as a business management tool that serves to disclose the impact said activities have on the Colombian population. To this end, the National Government, within a maximum period of six (6) months from the enactment of this law, will deine how the aforementioned entities comply with the duty to report, at least once per year, on the different programmes which they implement in Colombia according to their corporate governance policies to serve the underprivileged.” 35 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR aspects as a transversal approach have emerged: the Code of Best Corporate Practices of Colombia, or Country Code (Código País), and the Issuer Institutions Recognition IR (Reconocimiento IR). The Country Code compiles recommendations for best practices in corporate governance for issuers both in the real economy and the inancial sector. It was established in 2014 by the inancial regulator, the Financial Superintendent (Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia), and applies to investors, issuers, infrastructure providers and supervisors. Those entities that agree to comply with the code disclose the adoption of its recommendations through an implementation report that is available to the public. These reports must address the availability of information: “(i) Is the website of the company user-friendly, so it is easy to access information associated or related to corporate governance? (32.2)”; “(ii) In this regard, does the website of the company include at least the following links on sustainability: corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies, relations with stakeholders and the community, environment, etc. (32.3)”. Another instrument serving as a tool to increase transparency of inancial institutions is the Issuer Institutions Recognition (IR). Awarded by the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC – Bolsa de Valores de Colombia), any issuer applying for recognition has to adopt the requirements contained in the Circular of the BVC. Among other provisions, issuers are required to publish a sustainability report and make it available on the company’s website32, or publish information on its CSR practices in a separate document or dedicated section of the company’s website. Additionally, only those companies with the IR recognition that belong to the equity index COLEQTY can be part of the COLIR index, a unique index that highlights issuers’ commitments to investor relations and sustainability disclosure33. FRANCE AND ITS EARLY STEPS IN PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS France is one of the few countries that promulgated laws promoting ESG disclosure in inancial institutions in the early 2000s. Two laws requiring disclosure on a “comply or explain” basis were created in 2001: • Law 2001-152 of 19 February on the generalization of employee savings plans; and 32 Circular Unica de Bolsa de Valores de Colombia: https://www.bvc.com.co/pps/tibco/portalbvc/Home/Regulacion/ Sistemas_Administrados/Renta_Variable?com.tibco.ps.pagesvc.action=updateRenderState&rp.currentDocumentID =5d9e2b27_11de9ed172b_-2c0b7f000001&rp.revisionNumber=1&rp.attachmentPropertyName=Attachment&com. tibco.ps.pagesvc.targetPage=1f9a1c33_132040fa022_-78750a0a600b&com.tibco.ps.pagesvc.mode=resource&rp.redi rectPage=1f9a1c33_132040fa022_-787e0a0a600b 33 http://www.bvc.com.co/pps/tibco/portalbvc/Home/Empresas/IR/Indice_COLIR?action=dummy 36 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR • Law 2001-624 of 17 July establishing the Pension Reserve Fund (FRR). The law on the generalization of employee savings plans aimed at the diversiication of investments and the development of employee share ownership, but also at encouraging the orientation of savings towards a more inclusive (or solidarity-based) economic model. With this law, company collective investment funds should specify in their bylaws “the social, environmental and ethical considerations their asset managers must respect, if necessary, when buying and selling securities, as well as the exercise of rights attached to them”. The second legislation, Law 2001-624 of 17 July, encourages, if not requires (in fact, the two versions are possible given the way the law is phrased), FRR’s Management Board to regularly report its investment policy orientation to the Supervisory Board, including how social, environmental and ethical considerations are integrated in the general guidelines of the fund’s investment policy. Nevertheless, it was not until 2003 that the irst legislation increasing transparency for funds, in particular Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS), was passed. Article 66 of the Law on Financial Security (Law 2003-706 of August 2003) created the obligation for portfolio managers to report on how voting rights of shares held in their UCITS were exercised34. This obligation has been promoted by the French Association of Financial Management (AFG). In case such voting rights were not exercised, the reasons had to be duly explained. The reporting conditions were to be set by the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) within its General Regulation. They were complemented in 2005 by its Directive N° 2005-05 on UCITS of employee savings funds in its articles 19 and 20 for SRI occupational collective investment funds including in their bylaws a provision on the asset manager’s respect of environmental, social or ethical considerations when buying or selling securities and when exercising the voting rights attached. These funds were required to include in their annual reports a detailed speciication of the selection criteria used in the analysis of social, environmental or ethical issues, their evaluation method, and to inform if their asset management company had referred to specialized third-party rating agencies35. The government has not been the only stakeholder engaged in promoting transparency and reporting. The private sector also had a positive impact by developing and using a variety of labels, codes and charters. Prior to the enactment of the Law on National Commitment for the Environment, the 34 corporate.indlaw.com/litigation-disputes/recent-law-on-inancial-security-improves-corporate-governance-in.html 35 Instruction N° 2005-05 du 25 Janvier 2005: Relative Aux OPCVM d’épargne salariale. Retrieved from www.afg. asso.fr/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=2290&Itemid=143&lang=fr 37 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR market already introduced three labels, respectively launched in 1997, 2002 and 2009: • The FINANSOL label for solidarity savings products; • The Inter-Union Committee of Employee Savings (CIES) Label for employee savings funds; and • The SRI Label of Novethic36 awarded to SRI funds that systematically integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. Likewise, inluential organizations of the inancial sector were providing tools to improve disclosure and developing charters to lead by example. In particular, the AFG and the Forum for Responsible Investment (FIR) published the irst edition of the AFG-FIR Transparency Code in 2010. The Code is a translation of the Eurosif Transparency Code for Retail Funds, contains guidelines for reporting on ESG investment criteria, the ESG analysis process, the evaluation and selection of the investment policy and the voting and engagement policy. 4.1.1 Colombia Policy Evolution The Law 1328 of 2009 made provisions for consumer protection, the multifund scheme for private pension funds and the implementation of the insurance free trade agreement with the United States. The legal process in Colombia takes several steps before a law is passed and includes a provision for civil society to bring issues to the law making process if they achieve a critical number of signatures to a petition. Law 1328 is part of the Colombian inancial legislation. The inclusion of Article 96 in Law 1328 was the result of detailed research followed by consultation with experts, stakeholders, public participation and an extensive parliamentary process. This law sought to standardize the methods of implementing and reporting on CSR programmes for companies affected by Law 1328. Policy Design Article 96 of Law 1328 of 2009 has the objective of raising awareness of the 36 Novethic is a research center for SRI and CSR. 38 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR corporate social responsibility programmes being conducted by companies from the inancial and insurance sector and the securities market37. It requires the creation of a social balance programme to be used as a business management tool that serves to spread the impact of CSR activities across the Colombian population. Its implementation decree is meant to provide a standard that establishes the broad parameters for presentation and disclosure to inform the public about social balance programmes. In order to fulil this purpose, it establishes the conditions for disclosure and the content of the reported information. The inancial institution has to disclose the requested information at least once a year (during the irst quarter) in a way that is clear, complete and understandable for the general audience. Dissemination must be done through the popular media such as the internet and newspapers. The information disclosed must include at least the following details: 1. Description of the social programme(s) implemented by the entity and name of the programmes; 2. Brief description of the activities, indicating the beneiciary sectors; 3. Date of completion of the programme activities; 4. Period covered by the information. The content reported must correspond to programmes that were ongoing during the year preceding the disclosure and/or those that were being developed at the time the report is written, those that are progressing but not yet complete and those of an ongoing nature. Moreover, inancial institutions may associate with each other to undertake the disclosure requirements or resort to their partnerships or inancial conglomerates. Even though the decree does not include penalties, the Financial Superintendent has sanctioning powers when there is evidence that inancial institutions are not complying with the disclosure requirements and the publication of CSR programmes. 37 More speciically: credit institutions; trusts; warehouses; pension fund managers and severance; entities managing average premium funds; insurance companies; insurance cooperatives; reinsurance companies; capitalization companies; professional risk managers; insurance brokers and reinsurance; exchange brokerage companies and special inancial services; central bank; representative ofices of inancial institutions, reinsurers and market entities abroad; stock exchanges and brokers; goods and agricultural, agro-industrial products and other ‘commodities’ stock exchange, their brokers and entities performing clearing and settlement of transactions carried out through them; central securities depositories; entities managing trading systems; entities managing clearing and settlement systems; counterparty risk entities; investment management companies; risk rating agencies; securitization companies; administration entities who own trading systems and forex and societies managing forex regarding clearing and liquidation. 39 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Policy Monitoring Although the regulation does not require the use of a particular reporting channel, inancial institutions have been using sustainability reports and/ or annual reports with a special section on CSR activities to communicate the information. In addition, while the policy requires disclosure of the programmes implemented to serve the poorest sectors of society, inancial institutions have included in their reporting information on other programmes covering, inter alia, environmental issues and/or human rights. Before Article 96 of Law 1328 entered into force, some inancial institutions, and particularly the largest (among them NYSE listed institutions), were developing CSR programmes and presenting them in sustainability reports in order to implement the highest international standards in this ield. These were mostly based on the GRI’s guidelines for the Preparation of Sustainability Reports and the ISO26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility. So far, there are no studies or concrete evidence that are able to quantify the inluence of the law in increasing the rate of sustainability reporting and enhancing its quality. However, in order to establish whether inancial institutions were compliant with the rule (speciically as it relates to the publication of a report), the inancial authorities conducted a checklist of 204 inancial institutions in 2014. These institutions included banks, inance companies, inancial corporations, insurance companies, trust companies, managers of pensions and severance funds, and stock brokerage irms. The study found that 88% of the institutions published the CSR or annual report on their website and complied with the recommendations on the minimum content to be reported. In addition, the regulator found that the law has had a positive and very effective impact in the banking sector, which had been working to establish CSR policies and to prepare their reports following the conditions prescribed. Policy establishment is supported by the creation in 2011 of the Social Sustainability Committee of Asobancaria, Colombia’s banking association. The committee consists of 28 inancial entities and has as main objectives the promotion of green products, eco-eficiency and ARAS (Environmental and Social Risk Analysis). In addition, Asobancaria has also set up a “Green Protocol”. Sixteen Colombian banks have signed the Green Protocol, and have developed credit lines that aim to encourage and support projects with social and environmental beneits. While the law is consistent with most international standards that inancial 40 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR institutions already followed before its promulgation in 2009, there are still some aspects in which inancial institutions need to progress. These relate mainly to clarity and accessibility of information to the public. Conclusion Laws can provide an important stimulation of better practice, particularly when supported by relevant industry associations or market forces. Good sustainability reporting is built over time as practices, systems and methodologies mature. 4.1.2 France Policy Evolution Article 224 of the Law on National Commitment for the Environment (Law 2010-788 dated 12 July 2010) emerged from a structured process that gathered participants of the private and public sector, as well as unions and NGO’s. This article requires asset managers to disclose how they consider ESG criteria in their investment strategies (notably regarding the management of their UCITS funds). The consultation process of the law started in July 2007 and was programmed to go through ive stages. In the irst stage, which consisted of a dialogue to identify and elaborate proposals, working groups composed of state representatives, local authorities, employers and employees represented through unions, and NGOs participated in workshops to discuss topics of concern and propose programmes and actions for implementation. These were later submitted for public consultation. SRI and sustainability reporting issues were not addressed in depth in the context of the working groups. The debates focused mainly on the possibility of strengthening the sustainability reporting requirements of the Law on New Economic Regulations (Loi NRE)38 of 2001, and on increasing the scope of targeted companies. At that time, SRI was still a niche topic and several actors did not have the expertise to contribute to the debate. However, the few comments and proposals made on SRI, such as its development through employee savings plans; the creation of promotional campaigns in favour of SRI; and a green certiicate based on SRI investments volumes, were strong 38 The NRE law required in its Article 116 mandatory reporting to listed companies. 41 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR enough to form the base for Commitment 20439 on SRI promotion40. The operational committee N° 25 “Business and CSR” was in charge of discussing Commitment 204. This time, institutions specialized in CSR and SRI, and inancial sector associations and federations were invited to the discussion41. The operational committee came up with two sets of proposals to promote SRI. The irst set addressed SRI promotion through information campaigns and was motivated by the signiicant growth of the SRI market, the low promotion of SRI products by bank branches and insurance brokers, and consequently the lack of trust by individuals to invest in SRI products. It resulted in Article 53 of the secondary legislation regulating the implementation of the Law on National Commitment for the Environment (2009-967 dated 3 August 2009). Article 53 stipulates that SRI should be encouraged through incentives and information campaigns. This resulted in the creation of “The SRI Week”, an initiative of the French Responsible Investment Forum (FIR), a founding member of EUROSIF and supported by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea (MEEM) in 2010. The annual event attracts experts from inancial institutions, associations and universities, among others, to raise public awareness about all aspects of SRI.42 The second set of proposals included promoting, at the European level, the need to publish how UCITS managers integrate ESG criteria in their SRI decisions, and encouraging institutional investors to publish how they integrate ESG criteria in their investment policies43. The proposals were motivated by the different voluntary laws that incentivize employee savings and the role of institutional investors in the promotion of SRI. THE REQUIREMENTS OF ARTICLE 224 Article 224 of the Law on National Commitment for the Environment applies to asset managers and open-ended mutual funds (called SICAV in France). Although neither the article nor its secondary legislation speciically outline the objective and do not explicitly mention SRI, the objective was widely 39 “Promoting socially responsible investing through information campaigns and incentive mechanisms (such as employee savings plans in the NRE Law”, (Workstream N° 25 - Operational Committee “Business & CSR” of the Grenelle de l’environnement). 40 Construire une démocratie écologique : institutions et gouvernance, synthèse rapport Groupe 5 : http://www. ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/var/storage/rapports-publics/074000597.pdf 41 Some of the institutions were: CSR Observatoire, FIR AFG, French Banking Federation (FBF), French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA) and French Association of Private Companies(AFEP) 42 MEEM-CGDD. L’investissement socialement responsable pour orienter l’épargne vers la transition écologique. p. 2. November 2014. Retrieved from http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/05_CGDD_ISR_2_p_DEF_ Web.pdf 43 Chantier 25 Comité opérationnel « Entreprises et RSE », Rapport inal - 21 mars 2008 : http://www. developpement-durable.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/rapport_inal_comop_25-2-2.pdf 42 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR addressed in the parliamentary debates44. The secondary legislation does not include a precise description of the ESG topics that must be reported. However, the targeted entities are explicitly deined; the text sets the reporting requirements at the level of the asset management company (table 2) and their UCITS funds (irst column table 3). For those UCITS that do not take account of environmental, social and governance criteria simultaneously, the asset manager must signal it in its reporting. It is important to highlight that in France the deinition of ESG integration varies from the approach of EUROSIF and other European countries. Article 224 emphasizes the simultaneous consideration of Environmental, Social and Governance aspects, whereas in other contexts the consideration of one of the three pillars sufices. In addition, the secondary legislation speciies the reporting practical modalities. Information on how the asset management company takes account of ESG issues at the company level has to be published on its website. Information on how ESG criteria are taken into account in the investment strategy of their UCITS has to be published at two levels: (i) on the company’s website, for each UCITS or by UCITS category and (ii) in the annual report of each UCITS. The secondary legislation entered into force on 1st January 2012 and gave companies a timeframe of six months to publish the information on their websites. Two aspects were not covered in the secondary legislation: codes or guidelines and compliance. While there is no reference to a particular code or guideline, the text states that companies must specify whether the information is presented following a nationally or internationally recognized code or guideline. A new version of the AFG-FIR Transparency Code was published in 2013 in alignment with the new legal disclosure requirements. The second aspect not covered by the policy is the compliance mechanism which is assumed to be enforced by the French Market Authority in line with its duties to supervise the asset management industry and to ensure that entities are compliant with regulations. There are no penalties or sanctions for non-compliance. Nevertheless, reporters could positively signal their compliance through the existing labels in the market, and the adherence to the AFG-FIR Transparency Code, which is mandatory for all SRI funds that are open to the public and managed by member companies of either AFG or FIR. 44 Assemblée Nationale. Dispositions Relatives Aux Entreprises et à la Consommation, Article 82, Prise en compte par les gérants de portefeuille de la logique du développement durable. April 2010. Retrieved from http://www. assemblee-nationale.fr/13/rapports/r2449-tI.asp 43 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR A PLEASING BUT IMPROVABLE OUTCOME A small number45 of studies have been conducted to analyse the effectiveness of Article 224 in terms of disclosure, however, no organization has progressively analysed all the requirements of the article and their impact on reporting practices. Nevertheless, assessments have concluded that there is room for improvement. The MEEM assessed the policy in October 201346. The results were relatively satisfactory considering that the law’s secondary legislation had entered into force only the previous year. However, the disclosure rates in annual reports were much lower than those on websites. The only requirement that showed higher disclosure rates in annual reports was the indication that the UCITS was not SRI. In this case, 15% of the sample complied in the annual report, while 0% did it on the website. The reason of such low disclosure rates was attributed to the availability of the information in electronic format. An assessment of MEEM’s study is provided in the GoF47 report Evaluating National Policies on Corporate Sustainability Reporting. The objective of the law is to promote ESG integration by establishing a limited set of reporting requirements that serve as a basis to encourage asset managers to factor in ESG issues in their investment strategies and allow a common framework to better inform clients. According to the Working Group 2 of the CSR Platform - a place for dialogue to address policy implementation of CSR in France - the impact of the policy in this matter was low and the target of transparency required was dificult to identify. On one hand, the provisions applied only to asset managers, which manage around 70% of the assets from institutional investors, however, the law targeted mainly savings of retail investors, a considerably lower amount of assets under management (AUM)47. On the other hand, the Working Group argued that the disclosed information was of little interest for retail investors because of its complexity or lack of relevance. The Working Group provided a series of recommendations to increase the effectiveness of the law, among them the extension of the scope 45 MEEM (2013), Novethic (2013) and (AFG 2012) 46 http://www.actu-environnement.com/media/pdf/news-25728-etude-cas-france.pdf 47 Extends the reporting scope to insurance and reinsurance companies regulated by the Insurance Code, mutual insurers and grouping unions subject to the Mutual Code, employee-beneits unions and institutions regulated by the Code of Social Security, investment companies with variable capital, the Caisse des Depots et Consignations, supplementary pension institutions subject to the Code of Social Security, supplementary pension institution for non-permanent staff of the state and other public authorities (IRCANTEC), the public institution managing the scheme the compulsory supplementary public-service pension scheme (ERAFP) and the state insurance fund for local government workers (CNRACL) 44 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR to institutional investors, the creation of a SRI label by the government, the clariication of ESG integration and SRI in the text, and the use of a more elaborated “comply or explain” approach, among others. The Group concluded that Article 224, which was specially backed by the AFG-FIR Transparency Code and the existing labels, led to better reporting practices by asset managers. Their observations enriched the debate and eventually generated pressure for the extension of Article 224 to institutional investors. POLICY EVOLUTION Article 173 of the Law on Energy Transition for the Green Growth Article 173 builds upon Article 224, the effects of which have gone beyond the increase of disclosure by portfolio managers and have opened an inter-ministerial and global debate to develop new instruments and laws to improve disclosure by inancial institutions at large. The government-initiated SRI label (announced in the roadmap of the irst Environmental Conference held in September 2012), the “Energy and Ecological Transition for Climate” Label48 (TEEC) (Box a) and the Article 173 of the Law on Energy Transition for Green Growth49, voted in August 2015, go one step further to improve transparency in the inancial sector. The rationale for expanding the scope of the law to institutional investors was a recommendation not only from the Working Group 2 of the CSR Platform, but was also proposed in the Drago-Brovelli–Molinié report (2013) and the White Paper on Financing the Ecological Transition (2013). It was, however, a recommendation pushed for several years by the French Responsible Investment Forum (FIR). The irst attempt to extend the reporting scope to include institutional investors was made through the Law for Growth, Activity and Equal Economic Chances. The parliamentary process started in January 2015. Its Article 40 included provisions on ESG reporting in annual reports for “authorized or regulated institutional investors”. The article made it through the irst debate at the National Assembly but was later removed by the Senate Commission. The Law on Energy Transition for Green Growth was adopted on 23rd July 2015 and promulgated on 6th August 2015. Article 173 complements Article L.533-22-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code by including provisions on 48 The TEEC label was an outcome of the workstreams initiated by the Energy Transition Banking and Financial Conference held in June 2014 49 Article 173. Energy Transition for Green Growth Law. Retrieved from: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/ta/ ta0575.asp 45 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR ESG reporting for institutional investors50 with a focus on climate change. The law requires institutional investors to disclose how they considered ESG criteria in their investment strategies as well as how they are consistent with energy and ecological transition. POLICY DESIGN The dynamics in the development process of Article 173 were different to those of Article 224. Institutional investors are key players in the capital allocation process and have a critical role to play in the reorientation of inancial lows in a manner that is consistent with the transition. Being major clients of asset managers, it was therefore natural to envisage an extension of previous requirements. Such an extension of Article 224 to institutional investors had been requested for long by pioneering actors as well as the French SIF. As an initial step, parliamentarians consulted several experts in sustainability and climate change disclosure to draft an amendment that captured the transparency needed from institutional investors; the provisions had to be aligned with existing reporting requirements. Within the context of COP21, Article 173 came with a particular focus on climate change through elements such as the exposure of targeted entities to climate-related risks as well as an assessment of their contribution to the ight against climate change (through the use of indicative targets, relective of the domestic and international climate objectives). The French Treasury was in charge of drafting the secondary legislation of Article 173. A irst draft of the secondary legislation together with a guidance note and a questionnaire was made available for public consultation from November 27 to December 751. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS The secondary legislation of article 173 provides a lexible and nonprescriptive framework for entities to report on how they take account of ESG (notably climate) criteria. 50 In particular, it extends the reporting scope to insurance and reinsurance companies regulated by the Insurance Code, mutual insurers and grouping unions subject to the Mutual Code, employee-beneits unions and institutions regulated by the Code of Social Security, investment companies with variable capital, the Caisse des Depots et Consignations, supplementary pension institutions subject to the Code of Social Security, supplementary pension institution for non-permanent staff of the state and other public authorities (IRCANTEC), the public institution managing the scheme the compulsory supplementary public-service pension scheme (ERAFP) and the state insurance fund for local government workers (CNRACL). 51 https://www.tresor.economie.gouv.fr/12658_consultation-sur-le-decret-d-application-du-vi-de-larticle-173-de-laloi-relative-a-la-transition-energetique-pour-la-croissance-verte 46 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Table 2 compares the general information on their investment policies that asset management companies must disclose, following Article 224 of the Law on National Commitment for the Environment, as well as the information that institutional investors and asset managers must disclose under Article 173. TABLE 2 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF ARTICLE 224 AND ARTICLE 173 ARTICLE 224 ARTICLE 173 Presentation of the general approach regarding the integration of ESG criteria in the investment and voting policy Presentation of the general approach regarding the integration of ESG criteria in the investment & voting policy and risk management Content, frequency and means used to inform investors about the ESG criteria integrated in their investment policy Content, frequency and means used to inform subscribers, afiliates, contributors, beneiciaries or clients about the criteria selected to meet their ESG objectives in their investment policy and, if applicable, the risk management List of UCITS which simultaneously consider ESG criteria and its percentage share in the total assets under management For asset managers: list of the managed collective investment undertakings which simultaneously consider ESG criteria and its percentage share in total assets under management Possible accession of UCITS to a charter, a code, an initiative or obtaining a label due to its consideration of ESG criteria and compliance Possible accession of the entity or of a collective investment undertaking to a charter, a code, an initiative or obtaining a label due to its consideration of ESG criteria and compliance. Brief description of the charter, code, initiative or label When entities have a risk management framework in place: General description of the internal procedures to identify the risks associated with ESG issues, including a general description of the risks identiied and the exposure of its activities to these risks 47 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR The secondary legislation establishes the general outline of the information to be disclosed regarding the consideration of ESG criteria. Article 173 takes the reporting outline introduced in Article 224 and enhances them by proposing a set of illustrative information that could be reported by targeted entities when the environmental criterion of climate change is considered. Moreover, assets managed directly by the institutional investor or through a delegated portfolio manager are both within the perimeter of the measurement. When presenting the information, the institutional investor or the portfolio manager may make distinctions by asset class, investment portfolio, issuer, or any other relevant category, provided they indicate the reasons for this differentiation. Table 3 describes the required information on the ESG criteria integration in the investment policy. TABLE 3 DISCLOSURE ON THE ESG INTEGRATION IMPLEMENTED BY ENTITIES IN THEIR INVESTMENT STRATEGY AS DEFINED IN THE SECONDARY LEGISLATION OF ARTICLE 173 REQUIREMENT ESG criteria considered CRITERIA Reasons for choosing these ESG criteria in particular Indication that the criteria related to the environmental objectives are part of: • Risks associated with climate change: - Physical risks Transition risks • An assessment of the contribution to meet the international climate targets and the objectives of the energy and ecological transition. Information used for the analysis of the ESG criteria 48 This can include: • • • Ratings, inancial and extra-inancial data; Internal and external analysis; and Other relevant sources SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR TABLE 3 DISCLOSURE ON THE ESG INTEGRATION IMPLEMENTED BY ENTITIES IN THEIR INVESTMENT STRATEGY AS DEFINED IN THE SECONDARY LEGISLATION OF ARTICLE 173 (CONT.) REQUIREMENT Methodology and results of the analysis of the ESG criteria CRITERIA The general description of the methodology may include: • Overall characteristics; • Details of the major underlying assumptions and their compatibility with the international goal of limiting global warming; • Explanation of the relevance of the methodology and selected parameters The description of the methodologies implemented in relation to the environmental criteria described in (a) can include, when applicable: • Consequences of extreme weather events and climate change; • Changes in the availability and price of natural resources and operations performed in line with the climate targets; • Consistency between issuer’s capital expenditures and the low-carbon strategy, in particular issuers involved in the development of fossil fuels reserves. • Any item related to the implementation by governments of the international climate target and the energy and ecological transition; • Measure of past, current or future direct or indirect GHG emissions, associated to the issuers in the investment portfolio, including: - The overall characteristics of the methodology, the scope of GHG and how it contributes to the risk analysis; - If the methodology provides carbon intensities, the chosen indicator must be disclosed; and, - Weights used in case of aggregation of carbon intensities; • Amount of assets invested in thematic funds, securities or infrastructure assets contributing to the energy and ecological transition, collective investment undertakings with a label, charter, or part of an initiative that contributes to achieve the international climate target and the energy and ecological transition; • Any element that allows assessing the exposure to risks associated to climate change and its contribution to reach for the international climate target of limiting global warming and the energy and ecological transition. 49 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR TABLE 3 DISCLOSURE ON THE ESG INTEGRATION IMPLEMENTED BY ENTITIES IN THEIR INVESTMENT STRATEGY AS DEFINED IN THE SECONDARY LEGISLATION OF ARTICLE 173 (CONT.) REQUIREMENT Integration of the results of the ESG analysis to the investment policy CRITERIA • Description of the changes in the investment strategy and risk management (when applicable) driven by the ESG analysis. When applicable, a description of those assets for which no ESG analysis was performed • Presentation of the engagement strategy with issuers, specifying notably the engagement policy and the voting rights. • Presentation of the engagement strategy with asset managers including a description of the engagement policy and the exercise of voting rights. In addition, the information on the contribution to the international target of limiting global warming and the energy and ecological transition should be assessed based on: • The process used to analyse the consistency of the investment policy with these objectives and its contribution. • Indicative targets set by the entity itself specifying the consistency with the international objective on climate change and the guidelines adopted by the European Union and the carbon budgets, and the French lowcarbon strategy; • Actions to achieve the indicative targets including changes in investment and divestment strategies, engagement with issuers, increase in assets invested in thematic funds, securities or assets of infrastructure contributing to the energy and ecological transition, collective investment schemes with a label, charter, or an initiative; and • The position in relation to the indicative targets set for the last inancial year and reasons for any deviation. In the event the inancial institution fails to provide or partially provide the information required in Tables 2 and 3, an explanation has to be given (“comply or explain” principle). The resulting disclosure requirements capture the issues raised in the parliamentary debates. However, the initial amendment included 50 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR requirements to measure the “green share” of the portfolio, i.e. assets that induce reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. An inter-ministerial debate to identify the appropriate methodology concluded that due to the complexity of the existing approaches and the new disclosure requirements brought by Article 173, the incorporation of such provisions at such an early stage could represent a burden to institutional investors. This is now captured to a minor extent in the disclosure of the proportion of assets held in thematic funds. COMPLIANCE MECHANISMS As in Article 224, the secondary legislation of Article 173 explicitly reminds that the supervisory authority of each targeted entity is naturally in charge of ensuring that supervisees comply with the regulation. The market already had instruments in place signalling those inancial institutions engaged in transparency and the energy transition, notably, the TEEC label. The civil society, peer pressure and international initiatives on climate change are also possible channels to encourage entities to take on this ESG reporting in a more extensive manner. Prior to the publication of the decree several institutional investors were already exploring changes to their reporting. PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS Not all institutional investors have to report on the requirements of Tables 2 and 3 as the decree establishes a threshold. Some smaller entities are entitled to present only the requirements of Table 2 (if they have for each fund a total asset under management of below €500 million or if they belong to a group drawing up consolidated accounts or combined balance sheets of less than €500 million). The requirements of Table 2 have to be presented in an easily identiiable way on the website of the entity and updated annually. Institutional investors and asset managers that are above the threshold must publish the information speciied in Table 3 on the website of the entity. In the case of asset managers, the information has to be annually updated and presented by UCITS and/or AIF, or the fund category. In addition, institutional investors have to disclose the information in their annual report and asset managers in the annual report of each fund. POLICY MONITORING The decree enters into force for the 2016 exercise. The information to be included on the website of the entity has to be presented alongside the publication of its annual report no later than 30 June 2017. 51 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Entities will have about a year to elaborate their irst batch of reporting in accordance with the new provisions. However, the “comply and explain” approach is deemed lexible enough to allow investors to make progress in their reporting practices as they become familiar with climate metrics. The secondary legislation has contributed to raising the awareness of the French inancial sector on climate-change issues and more generally on ESG integration. As an example, the AFG has established a working group whose objective is to share experiences on climate reporting and examine suitable methodologies that could be adopted by asset managers to enable comparability across industry peer reporting52. Institutional investors and asset managers are attentive to the developments around the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. There is a strong will to adopt reporting practices that are consistent with international practices. As indicated in the regulatory text, the Government will carry out an assessment of the implementation of the secondary legislation in 2019. In March 2016, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea, in partnership with 2° Investing Initiative53, announced the launch of an Investor Climaterelated Disclosures Award54. Its objective is fourfold: identify and reward best practices in climate reporting; support entities in their implementation of climate-risk assessment methodologies; create a positive environment during the implementation process of Article’s 173 secondary legislation; and, send a signal to investors and the Parliament on the mobilization of the government on climate change. The irst edition of the award ceremony took place on October 28th, 2016 under the auspices of the OECD. 52 http://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/video.3781905_56f2b51a1bb07.application-de-la-loi-sur-la-transition-pour-lacroissance-verte--table-ronde-sur-l-article-173-23-mars-2016 53 2° Investing Initiative is a multi-stakeholder think tank working to align the inancial sector investments with the 2°C climate goal. 54 http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/Segolene-Royal-mobilise-des.html 52 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR BOX A ARTICLE 173 Other provisions of Article 173… Article 173 has set an international example in terms of reporting. In addition to its focus on institutional investors and asset managers, Article 173 also includes reporting requirements for: 1. Corporates in general, which should disclose in their annual report: a. for listed companies, the inancial risks related to climate change and the measures they have taken to reduce those risks (e.g. adoption of a low-carbon strategy); b. for listed companies and some big unlisted ones, the consequences of climate change on the company’s activities and their products or services for listed companies and some big unlisted ones. 2. The French government is to remit a report to the Parliament on the implementation of climate stress-testing methodology for the banking sector. 4.2 Legal Changes Promoting Disclosure and ESG Integration 4.2.1 South Africa’s Pension Fund Amendment Policy Evolution South African Pension Fund regulatory amendments in 2011 have introduced a requirement to include ESG considerations and are driving disclosure, if not full sustainability reporting. Regulation 28 was issued in terms of section 36(1)(bB) of South Africa’s Pension Funds Act, which was originally promulgated in 1962. Section 36(1)(bB) provides a prudential standard that imposes asset-spreading requirements for pension funds. The latest amendment of 2011 was driven by innovation and developments in the inancial market as well as the global inancial crisis, which exposed pension funds to greater risk and highlighted the need to update the investment channels to allow prudent pension funds to gain the necessary information prior to investing. The development of Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act beneitted from a broad multi-stakeholder consultation. Financial institutions (banks, asset 53 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR managers, investment companies etc.), the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), industry associations, the Public Investment Corporation, civil society and NGOs were called upon to discuss amendments in sustainability reporting. The National Treasury released a irst draft of the regulation for public comment in February 2010. The irst version of the amendment included a provision suggesting 5% of the assets to be invested in SRI assets. SRI advocates in the investment management community opposed the proposal, arguing that SRI should not be seen as a separate asset class55. After deliberations, a second draft was released in December 2010, for another round of public comment and industry engagement. In this draft, no threshold for SRI investments was suggested. This process culminated in March 2011 with the publication of Regulation 28. During the negotiation process, the main points contested were related to the technicalities on the areas of investment, but the underlying principles of the amendment were not disputed. Some of the issues put forward included the impacts on liquidity management in a fund, and unintended impediments to investment in prodevelopment areas like unlisted equities. Policy Design Incorporating ESG Into Long-Term Investments Regulation 28 has been inluenced by local developments within the inancial sector and real economy, as well as broad government objectives of inancial and economic inclusion. The retirement fund regulation aims to ensure that retirement savings are invested in a prudent manner that protects the fund members. Those savings should be channelled in ways that achieve economic development and growth. The regulation intends to leverage the crucial link between retirement savings and economic growth and development as inluenced by the level of savings and its allocation towards productive assets. The policy and objective of the regulation were clearly deined through supporting policy and response documents. The Financial Services Board as regulator of pension fund organizations prescribes the format for disclosure of information setting out compliance. The format for disclosure and the thresholds per asset category (cash, commodities, etc.) are speciied in Notice 3 of Regulation 28. Regulation 28 advises retirement funds to consider ESG factors that may impact investment risk. The provisions do not impose a direct ESG 55 Louche C. and Hebb T. 2014. Critical Studies in Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability Volume 7. Socially Responsible Investment in the 21st century: Does it makes a different for society?, p.223 54 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR investing requirement on retirement funds, i.e. they do not prescribe a minimum percentage of assets to be invested using SRI strategies, but rather recommends retirement funds to consider ESG factors when making investments, speciically in assessing investment risk. Consequently, Regulation 28 introduces a binding principle for pension funds to consider ESG factors when making investments, and therefore must be reported on to prove compliance. In case of non-compliance, the pension fund may be subject to the full regulatory enforcement powers of the Financial Services Board in fulilling its regulatory mandate. Prior to the amendment of 2011, the pension funds regulation did not include any reference to SRI and sustainability disclosure. The changes in its requirements aim to better align the regulation of retirement funds with other government policy objectives such as socially responsible investments and economic transformation according to the national Black Economic Empowerment requirements. The key reasons for the amendments to Regulation 28 were: • The need to update and align the deinitions, asset categories and the structure of limits to those applied in the regulation of other investment funds; • The need to include speciications on derivatives, structured products and foreign investments, which were not explicitly accommodated within Regulation 28 and exposed the framework to abuses, as certain conducts were not expressly prohibited or undermine potential risk–reward beneits if underutilised. Prior to Regulation 28, the existing regulation was only rules-based, and led to funds louting the spirit of the law whilst still being compliant. The revised regulation introduced an overlay of binding principles for pension funds, dealing with matters such as member protection and taking account of ESG investment risk. Policy Monitoring The policy and regulatory effectiveness of the regulation has not been tested yet in South Africa, since policies are typically assessed ive years following implementation. However, some early signs have been observed. Practitioners believe the regulation is clear, but has been challenging for pension funds to implement on account of the massive system changes implied, and the new approach to supervision that relies on principles in addition to the preexisting rules. One of the challenges that the principle oficers of the pension funds face is that of weighing up long term ESG issues against the iduciary 55 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR requirement to seek the best returns, which are measured in the short term. Further research is necessary to assess the degree to which the regulation has been put into effect and the impact that it is having on investment choices made by pension funds. Conclusion Regulation 28 acknowledges the inner nature of investments of pension funds and promotes the application of ESG investment analysis and reporting as part of the iduciary duty of retirement funds. BOX B SOUTH AFRICAN PENSION FUND CHANGES CRISA was launched in July 2011 and provides guidance on how institutional investors, including pension funds, should execute investment analyses and activities and exercise responsibility to promote sound governance such as that set out for all organizations in South Africa’s King Code on Corporate Governance. CRISA includes ive key principles: 1. Incorporate sustainability considerations, including ESG, into the investment analysis and investment activities as part of the delivery of superior risk-adjusted returns to the ultimate beneiciaries. 2. Demonstrate the acceptance of ownership responsibilities in the investment arrangements and activities. 3. Where appropriate, consider a collaborative approach to promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles of CRISA and other codes and standards applicable to other institutional investors. 4. Recognise the circumstances and relationships that hold a potential for conlicts of interest and proactively manage these when they occur. 5. Be transparent about the content of their policies, how the policies are implemented and how CRISA is applied to enable stakeholders to make informed assessments. The effect of CRISA is to strengthen the implementation of the King Code, which is non-mandatory and market-based, by institutional investors. For the purposes of CRISA, all actors along the investment value chain are included – such as asset managers, fund administrators as well as pension funds. The asset owners have ultimate responsibility for the implementation of CRISA and should ensure that their mandate to service providers includes the implementation of CRISA. 56 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 4.2.2 Switzerland: Increasing Public Pressure on Governance Switzerland is a leading global cross border wealth management and inancial centre. The inance industry generates around 13% of the Swiss Confederation’s GDP and employs about 10% of its working population56. Its transparency has recently been improved and Switzerland is part of the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (MCAA). Concerns about lack of transparency in the inancial sector and public concern about extremely high wages, were the drivers behind a popular initiative calling not only for limitations on the so-called “fat-cat” payouts to executives from listed companies but also for pension funds to disclose their voting records at Annual General Meetings. Policy Evolution The Swiss industry had been increasingly active in the use of ESG screening and the number of signatories to the voluntary PRI code is increasing. From the governance perspective, public outrage at excessive salary payouts to key players in the inancial services industry – including those implicated in the 2008 global inancial crisis – led to a public referendum in 2013 and a change in the constitution as well as a transitional “ordonnance” (or statute). Policy Design The “Against-fat-cat-salaries” or Minder initiative of March 2013 was passed when 68% of the population voted in favour of pension funds having to actively exercise their voting rights at AGMs of Swiss companies on behalf of their members, curbs on excessive payouts of “golden handshakes” and “golden parachutes” to executives of Swiss companies and banks. This was one of the highest popular referendum approval rates in Swiss history triggering debate across Europe. It was followed by a Swiss Federal Council transitional ordonnance (RS221.331) that became legally binding as of 2015 – Article 95 paragraph 3 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. It is applicable to Swiss Corporations whose shares are listed on a Swiss or foreign exchange. While no speciic sustainability reporting is requested, compensation reports of Swiss companies are required and pension funds must publish their voting record. On 1 April 2015, the Swiss Federal Council adopted a position paper on corporate social responsibility. One of the measures the plan foresees is the 56 http://www.swissbanking.org/home/inanzplatz-link/facts_igures.htm 57 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR submission of a proposal on sustainability reporting by companies. A popular initiative proposing to introduce an article on the Responsibility of Business into the Constitution is open for signature until 21 October 2016. This article would require the Confederation to take measures to strengthen respect for human rights and the environment by businesses. Policy Monitoring In addition to requiring AGM voting on Boards and remuneration, pension funds are obliged to vote in the interest of their policyholders and must disclose their voting behaviour. Sanctions include imprisonment of up to three years. Conclusion The Swiss case study highlights the power of public pressure but also that disclosure requirements do not necessarily translate into sustainability reporting, unless speciically required by policy or adoption of voluntary codes. 4.2.3 Brazilian Financial Institutions: Guidelines for Social and Environmental Policies In April 2014, the National Monetary Council of Brazil’s central bank adopted Resolution 4327/201457. It established guidelines for the development and implementation of corporate social and environmental policies, environmental and social risk management, governance and disclosure (Política de Responsabilidade Socioambiental – PRSA) for inancial institutions and other entities authorized to operate by the Central Bank of Brazil (Banco Central do Brasil – Bacen). While the departure point is not a requirement to produce a sustainability report, the requirement for the disclosure of key social and environmental 57 http://www.mma.gov.br/informma/item/10097-bancos-ter%C3%A3o-que-implantar-pol%C3%ADticasocioambiental-at%C3%A9-fevereiro-de-2015 See also: • http://www3.ethos.org.br/cedoc/cmn-edita-normas-sobre-politica-de-responsabilidade-socioambiental-parainstituicoes-inanceiras/#.Vu_56OLhDIU • http://www.mondaq.com/brazil/x/311440/Financial+Services/ The+Social+And+Environmental+Responsibility+Policy+Of+The+Brazilian+Financial+Institutions • http://www.bcb.gov.br/pre/normativos/busca/downloadNormativo.asp?arquivo=/Lists/Normativos/ Attachments/48734/Res_4327_v1_O.pdf 58 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR information exists within the Resolution, which places direct responsibility on the directors or oficers of the institution. Each institution must adopt its own PRSA following consultation, which considers the principles of relevance and proportionality: • Relevance: The degree of exposure to social and environmental risks. • Proportionality: The PRSA should be compatible with the nature of the organization as well as the complexity of its activities and inancial products and services. The PRSA must direct socio-environmental activities within the businesses and in the relationships with the internal and external stakeholders, including customers and users of the products and services. The institution should encourage stakeholder participation in the PRSA process, which should include guidelines on the strategic actions related to its governance and social and environmental risk management. It must be evaluated every ive years by the oficers (diretoria) and of the board of directors (conselho de administração). The PRSA covers inancial conglomerates; as well as the cooperative credit system, including central cooperative credit and, when applicable, their confederations and cooperative banks. Each institution must have a governance structure compatible with its size, the nature of its business, the complexity of the services and products, as well as with its activities, adopted processes and systems. This PRSA governance structure must provide for: • Implementation; • Monitoring and compliance; • Assessment of the effectiveness of implemented actions; • Veriication of the adequacy of the social-environmental risk management; and • Identiication of any shortcomings in the implementation of the actions The institution should establish an Advisory Committee on Social and Environmental Responsibility reporting to the board of directors or to the oficers, with a mandate to monitor and evaluate the PRSA and propose improvements. The composition of this committee should be disclosed. 59 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR The social and environmental risk management of the institution must consider: • Systems, routines and procedures to identify, evaluate, mitigate, monitor and manage the social and environmental risk in the activities and transactions of the institution; • Creating a data registry covering effective losses due to social and environmental damage, for a minimum period of ive years, including values, type, location and economic sector object of the transaction; • Prior assessment of the potential social and environmental impacts from new forms of products and services, including in relation to the reputation´s risk; and • Procedures for adequacy of social and environmental risk management to the legal, regulatory and market changes. When conducting transactions related to economic activities with the greatest potential to cause social and environmental damage, the institution must establish speciic criteria and mechanisms of risk assessment. The PRSA and the action plan must be approved by the oficers and by the board of directors, in order to ensure integration with the other policies such as the credit, human resources management and risk management policies of the institution. The institution must designate a director responsible for fulilment of the PRSA; formalize the PRSA and ensure its internal and external disclosure; and maintain documentation relating to the PRSA required by the regulator, Bacen. Pursuant to CMN Res. 4327/2014, Bacen may order the adoption of controls and procedures concerning the PRSA, establishing a deadline for its implementation. The strategy of the Brazilian regulator was to create rules that are adaptable to the characteristics of each institution. The new regulation requires each inancial institution to perform an in-depth brainstorming exercise about its activities and its business proile and from that exercise, implement its own PRSA and associated controls. 60 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 4.3 Voluntary Codes Promoting Sustainability Reporting 4.3.1 The South African Case In South Africa, companies are required to report a number of key criteria on governance, labour issues, economic transition and other key factors under varied pieces of legislation such as the Companies Act, the Labour Relations Act and the Codes to promote the inancial and economic inclusion of the population previously excluded from the formal economy by the Apartheid system. The requirement to redress past exclusions is part of a mandatory reporting requirement for all companies, including those in the inancial sector, which also report to the inancial authorities on the Financial Sector Code, now part of the regulatory framework. The Financial Sector Code, similar to codes adopted by other sectors, was developed in consultation with the industry and addresses the issues speciic to the requirements for the transformation of the inancial sector. The aim is to transform the sector so that it is more relective of and accessible to previously excluded or disadvantaged communities. The focus on environmental issues for the inancial sector is largely driven by the voluntary adoption of codes and principles, such as the Equator Principles for project inance and related lending, the Environmental Code of the Banking Association, the PRI, the Code for Responsible Investment for South Africa (CRISA, see chapter 4.2.1, Box b) for asset managers, the Principles for Sustainable Insurance and the JSE’s SRI index. Not all participants in the sector are members of these initiatives and the reporting requirements vary in comprehensiveness and quality. The Government Employees Pension Fund was one of the irst signatories of the PRI. In addition, the King Code on Corporate Governance, adopted in various iterations since 2002 and applicable to all companies including state-owned entities, makes provision for reporting on material issues beyond the legal requirements to publish annual statements of accounts. While the King Code is technically voluntary, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange requires all companies to report their compliance with the Code or provide explanations for non compliance. The King Code reporting requirements have been incorporated into the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s listing requirements. In previous iterations, 61 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR the Code required the publication of sustainability reports – either standalone reports or combined with the annual report to shareholders. In King III, this became a requirement to produce integrated reports. State-owned enterprises (SOEs), which also produce integrated reports, are subject to national reporting requirements speciied by the Treasury, which exercises oversight on public expenditure and sets the requirements for management, auditing and disclosure of public funds. One recent legislative development, which includes a requirement to report, is the adoption of Regulation 28 in the Pension Funds Act (see chapter 4.2.1). 4.3.2 Swiss Voluntary Adoption of the PRI The government of Switzerland was an early funder of the Principles for Responsible Investment and both private and public Swiss inancial institutions58 participated in the process of its development. There are currently 65 UNPRI signatories from Switzerland (eight asset owners, 44 investment managers and 13 professional service partners). The number of UN PRI transparency reports iled by Swiss companies has increased from at least 28 in 2013 and 2014 to 36 from 2014 to 2015. The 15 signatories that have not iled a report are only required to do so in the next year after their one-year-grace-period. The professional service partners do not ile transparency reports. PRI reporting requirements are currently under review. Eurosif reports that: “In terms of ESG integration, it seems that the Swiss asset management industry is increasingly adopting ESG integration strategies and these have thereby reached considerable importance within the Swiss market, which is characterised by a high proportion of retail investors. Seventy percent of the Swiss investors (mainly pension funds) that have signed the UNPRI make use of ESG aspects when giving external mandates.” During 2015 and 2016, activists have focused on Swiss corporate disclosure in relation to a number of other inancial issues including: • Beneicial ownership of equities – a law with tough sanctions was enacted; • Tax disclosure with regard to commodity trading revenue and lows; and, • Human rights and gender, relating to the impact in developing countries of laws that protect corporate secrecy. Swiss inancial corporations are not yet obliged to produce a sustainability report. 58 www.pri.org 62 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR BOX C PUBLIC SRI LABELS IN FRANCE “Socially Responsible Investment” (SRI) Label Article 224 was one of the initial elements that fed the development of the irst SRI label supported by the government. Created in January 2016 by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, it aims to promote the visibility of SRI investments at a European level. The SRI label is awarded on the basis of six pillars: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Integration of the ESG criteria in the fund’s objectives; Methodology of analysis and ratings of issuers; Integration of ESG criteria in the portfolio construction and management; ESG engagement policies with issuers; Communication and transparency; Positive impact on the sustainable development of the economy The measure of the performance on ESG issues is backed by the obligation to report on at least one prescribed indicator of one of the following four areas: BOX C Environment, Social, Governance and Human Rights. “Energy and Ecological Transition for Climate” (TEEC) Label The “Energy and Ecological Transition for the Climate” Label (‘TEEC’ in French) was launched in December 2015, during the COP21, by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea. The label was built to meet two main objectives: 1. Mobilize more savings for the beneit of the energy transition and the ight against climate change; 2. Encourage the creation of new green investment funds (listed equity, private equity, green bonds, etc.) In order to achieve these goals, the label is awarded on the basis of four criteria relating to portfolio construction and management: 1. 2. 3. 4. Exclusions of companies/sectors (fossil fuel, nuclear energy); Green share of the investments; ESG controversies; and Impact, by reporting on the environmental ‘footprint’. In addition, the impact requirement is strongly guided by sustainability reporting, as the fund has to report on the mechanisms for measuring the contribution of its investments to the energy and ecological transition and to report at least one prescribed indicator of one of four reporting areas (climate change, water, natural resources and biodiversity). The Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea, project leader on the label management, aims at developing the TEEC label on a European scale. 63 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 4.4 Market Instruments 4.4.1 Sustainable Responsible Investment Indices: The Brazilian and South African Cases Legislation is by far not the only tool available to governments who wish to foster transparency in the inancial sector. Many governments have joined efforts with stock exchanges to develop sustainability indices that recognize corporate leadership in sustainability matters. These indices include companies from a variety of sectors and were not speciically developed to enhance transparency of inancial institutions. SRI indices provide investors with clear signals that enable them to steer their investments towards the most sustainable companies. SRI indices are therefore mechanisms that allow investors to secure the long-term viability of their investments by taking into account the sustainability performance of listed companies, which thereby rewards the most sustainable companies with enhanced visibility both towards the investor community and the general public. 4.4.1.1 BRAZIL Accelerating Drivers for Increased Transparency The creation of the Index for Corporate Sustainability (ISE) of Brazil’s BM&FBOVESPA stock exchange in 2005 builds on the growing development of socially responsible or sustainable and responsible investment around the world since the 1970s. It was also inspired by the launch of similar stock exchange initiatives such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) in 1999, the FTSE4Good of the London Stock Exchange in 2001 and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s SRI Index in 2004. The ISE constitutes an instrument that adds to traditional inancial analysis values such as sustainable development, performance comparability, socio-environmental responsibility and long-term vision and security for shareholders. During the 1980s, Brazil saw a growth of organizations focusing on social responsibility, environmental protection and business ethics. The Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses (Ibase), established in 1981, was the irst organization to monitor the performance of corporations and their role in the country’s social development. Ibase launched its Model for Social Audit in 1997, which was well received by businesses and for years remained the only reference model to report on non-inancial corporate activities in the country. In the 1990s, the Ethos Institute, formed by a group of executives 64 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR and entrepreneurs determined to disseminate good practices in the Brazilian corporate landscape, started working on governance and corporate social responsibility issues. Ethos, in fact, consolidated a movement stemming from Business Leaders National Understanding (PNBE, for Pensamento Nacional das Bases Empresariais), an organization focusing on entrepreneurial modernism and defending the re-democratization of Brazil after the end of the military regime in 1985. The irst research on SRI in Brazil was conducted by Unibanco in 2000. Banco Real created the Ethical Fund, the irst SRI fund in emerging markets, a year later. This investment fund targeted bank clients interested in investing in companies committed to ethical principles. Other banks followed by launching different types of responsible funds, for example, dedicating part of the management fee (usually 50%) to social programmes, such as CEF’s “Fome Zero” (“Zero Hunger”, a government programme aiming at reducing hunger and poverty) and HSBC’s “Ação Social” (“Social Action”, social projects run by NGOs). The actions towards the promotion of ESG topics within the Brazilian stock exchange started in 2000. The São Paulo Stock Exchange (BOVESPA which merged with the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange BM&F in 2008) introduced three listing segments in which companies can voluntarily adhere to different standards of corporate governance: The Novo Mercado (New Market) and the two Differentiated Levels of Corporate Governance (IGCX and IGCT). Although membership is voluntary, once a company is listed in a given segment, it has to adopt the mandatory standards imposed by the exchange. Novo Mercado has played a particularly important role in encouraging companies to commit to advanced criteria for corporate governance and thus became an instrument of self-regulation, capable of impacting the adoption of best governance practices. The annual production of a sustainability report or an integrated report is not a requirement. However, since 2012 BM&FBovespa has recommended that companies produce either a sustainability or an integrated report and provide BM&FBovespa with information about where the report is available. Those who do not report must explain why they do not. This “comply or explain” principle encourages companies to progressively adhere to the practice of providing quick access to ESG information to investors and other interested parties. By doing so, the exchange helps to reinforce this growing international trend in the capital markets. 65 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR After the launch of the New Market and Differentiated Levels of Corporate Governance, the BM&FBOVESPA stock exchange sought an alliance with Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Center of Studies on Sustainability (GVces) in São Paulo. This partnership gave birth to the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) in 2005, a major global reference among indicators for corporate management and governance, and the only SRI index in Latin America. In addition to these initiatives, BM&FBOVESPA has since 2012 recommended that listed companies indicate in the Reference Form (Formulário de Referência, a mandatory public information report published by its listed companies) whether they publish sustainability reports or similar documents, and how these can be accessed. Companies not publishing such documents should explain the reasons. This “comply or explain” measure (similar to that included in the JSE requirements, see next chapter 4.4.2.1), allows companies to gradually increase their rate of reporting to investors on ESG criteria and aims to provide easy access to this information. Policy Evolution Developing the ISE – A Broad, Multi-Stakeholder Process The ISE was the result of a joint effort by several organizations. It was initiated by the Bovespa Operations Superintendent (Ricardo Nogueira), the creators of the Ethical Fund (ABN Amro Real SRI fund), the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC), the Centre for Sustainability Studies of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (GVces) and the Ethos Institute, among others. The representatives of the Brazilian Association of Closed Pension Funds (Abrapp), the Association of Capital Markets Analysts and Investment Professionals (Apimec), the National Association of Investment Banks (Anbid), the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses (Ibase), the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGc), the Ethos Institute, BM&FBOVESPA, GVces and the Ministry of the Environment organized meetings during the period September to December 2003 to discuss the sustainability index criteria. Main Challenges In their book ISE – Sustainability in the Capital Market, A. W. Marcondes and C. D. Bacarji (2010)59 identiied two main issues that were the focus of discussions during the development process of the ISE: sector exclusions and the triple bottom line. 59 “ISE – Sustainability in the Capital Market”, A. W. Marcondes and C. D. Bacarji, 2010: http://www.bmfbovespa. com.br/Indices/download/Livro-ISE.pdf 66 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR The issue of excluding companies in controversial sectors (such as tobacco, alcoholic beverages, weapons or pornography) with negative screening practices emerged from the beginning of negotiations. The position of the representatives of Brazilian investment funds and institutional investors, taking into account experience with ethical funds, was that such enterprises should naturally be excluded from the portfolio, a stance supported by Ibase and the Ministry of the Environment. However, the Ethos Institute argued that the index would lack legitimacy to question the rights of companies legally allowed to operate, which paid taxes and in many cases had implemented socially responsible practices. GVces also believed that it was important to encourage these companies to invest in compensatory actions to reduce the negative impacts caused by their operations. Furthermore, it was argued that the products of these companies were not the only ones causing negative impacts on society or the environment. For instance, the oil and energy industries, which are responsible for a substantial portion of greenhouse gas emissions and social and environmental impacts, remain vital for the economy. In April 2005, ISE’s Board voted on the issue and it was decided that companies would not be barred from applying. The board also determined that the index’s methodology should adopt rigorous mechanisms to ilter companies with products that have negative impacts. The second major topic of discussions was the determination of the assessment criteria that the ISE would apply to companies. Initially, the emphasis was placed on social responsibility, on an equal footing as economic and inancial performance. It soon became evident that a comprehensive index would also need to take into account environmental and corporate governance criteria. The concept of Triple Bottom Line, from John Elkington, including the social, environmental and economic dimensions, was thus used as a basis for developing the assessment methodology, together with the recent implementation of the Novo Mercado. These negotiations deined the ISE’s foundations, a performance-based assessment carried out on the basis of a questionnaire structured around four Dimensions: Economic and Financial, Corporate Governance, and Social and Environmental Responsibility. Since then the questionnaire has developed to include three additional dimensions: General, Nature of Product, and Climate Change. 67 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Policy Design ISE Objectives The Index for Corporate Sustainability (ISE) is a tool for comparative analysis of the performance of companies listed on BM&FBOVESPA. It considers corporate sustainability, based on economic eficiency, environmental equilibrium, social justice and corporate governance. Its aim is to enhance public understanding of companies and groups committed to sustainability, differentiating them in terms of quality, level of commitment to sustainable development, equity, transparency and accountability, their products, as well as business performance in the economic, inancial, social, environmental and climate change dimensions. BM&FBOVESPA is responsible for the calculation and technical management of the index. As its technical partner, GVces is in charge of the development and improvement of the ISE corporate assessment methodology (relected in the ISE questionnaire for companies) and of the coordination of the selection processes for the annual index review. ISE is an index composed of about 40 companies selected among the issuers of the 200 most liquid shares. Participation is voluntary and the index’s portfolio is reviewed on an annual basis. The methodology is based on a questionnaire built through a multi-stakeholder participatory process. ISE’s main objectives are: • To create an investment culture compatible with the current social demands for sustainable development and to stimulate corporate responsibility; • To build an objective tool to compare the performance of listed companies from a sustainability perspective; • To highlight companies committed to sustainable development and provide investors with a clear differentiation, rather than an exclusive focus on short-term inancial returns; and • To encourage the launch of new SRI funds and to become a benchmark for comparing their performances. 68 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR ISE Governance Structure The ISE is currently governed by an independent board, which is responsible for approving any changes to the rules and methodology of the index, and the admission or exclusion of companies included in the index portfolio (which is annually renewed). TABLE 4 ISE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES STAKEHOLDER Financial sector INSTITUTION • BM&FBOVESPA (Chair of the Deliberative Council) • ABRAPP – Brazilian Association of Pension Funds (Associação Brasileira de Entidades Fechadas de Previdência Complementar) • ANBIMA – Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Markets Entities (Associação Brasileira de Entidades dos Mercados Financeiros e de Capitais) • APIMEC – Association of Capital Market Investment Analysts and Professionals (Associação dos Analistas e Profissionais de Investimento do Mercado de Capitais) • IBRACON – Institute of Independent Auditors of Brazil (Instituo dos Auditores Independentes do Brasil) Government Non-proit organizations • MMA – Ministry of Environment (Ministério do Meio Ambiente) • ETHOS Institute • IBGC – Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (Instituto Brasileiro de Governança Corporativa) • GIFE – Group of Institutes, Foundations and Enterprises (Grupo de Institutos, Fundações e Empresas) International Organizations • UN Environment • IFC – International Finance Corporation 69 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR In addition to these institutions, ISE reviews its methodology on an annual basis through a participatory process open to companies, civil society organizations, academia, investors and other stakeholders. Who Can Become an ISE Member? Eligible stocks for possible selection as ISE constituents must meet the following cumulative criteria60: 1. Being amongst the eligible stocks which, sorted in descending order by individual tradability ratio (IN) over the three previous portfolio cycles, rank in the top 200 positions; 2. Having actively traded in 50% of the trading sessions held over the three previous portfolio cycles; 3. Not constituting “penny stock”; and 4. Where a company has multiple listings, if one type of stock meets all the membership requirements, the other types of stock of that company will be accepted for membership as well, provided they rank in the group of eligible stocks which, as measured in descending order by individual tradability ratio (IN) over a period comprising the three previous portfolio cycles, collectively account for 99% of the total sum of such metric. Each year, the companies qualiied by the criteria above are invited to participate in the ISE portfolio selection process. Those willing to take part in the process must then ill in the ISE questionnaire, providing a broad amount of ESG information, which will be the basis for selection of portfolio constituents by the ISE Governance Committee (CISE). ISE Assessment Methodology The ISE methodology developed by the FGV Center for Sustainability Studies (GVces) is based on: • Company performance; • The ISE questionnaire; and • An assessment of documents submitted by the company to substantiate the information provided. The ISE questionnaire is structured into dimensions, criteria and indicators. The questions are currently grouped in seven dimensions, about 30 criteria and 70 indicators, totalling approximately 180 questions to be answered by 60 For more detailed information, please refer to the Concepts and Practices Manual for BM&FBOVESPA Indices. 70 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR companies. The methodology assigns the same weight to each of the seven dimensions, which evaluate different sustainability aspects61: TABLE 5 ISE QUESTIONNAIRE CRITERIA ISE QUESTIONNAIRE DIMENSIONS General • Commitments to sustainable development • Alignment with good sustainability practices • Transparency of corporate information • Anti-corruption policies and practices Nature of Product • Personal and overall impacts of products and services provided by the company • Adoption of the precautionary principle • Availability of information for consumers Corporate Governance • Relationship between partners • Board of Directors’ structure and management • Audits and oversight • Practices relating to conduct and conlict of interests Economic and Financial • Corporate policies, management, performance, and statutory compliance Social • Corporate policies, management, performance, and statutory compliance Environmental • Corporate policies, management, performance, and statutory compliance. • This dimension includes sector-specific questionnaires. Climate Change • Corporate policy, management, performance and level of information disclosure on the topic. 61 Alignment with good sustainability practices includes, inter alia: compensation pegged to the company’s social and environmental performance and the adoption of a plan that provides a correlation between assumed risks, compensation actually paid, company’s results. 71 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR The comprehensive assessment process requires companies to show satisfactory performance in every dimension of the questionnaire and to submit documents that conirm the information provided. The assessment method combines: • Quantitative analysis: Score achieved by the company based on its questionnaire answers; and • Qualitative analysis: Evaluation of the quality of the documentation submitted to conirm the questionnaire answers. Requirements for the Compilation and Publication of Reporting The information provided by companies through ISE does not constitute a report: the framework is the questionnaire itself, and for this reason, companies do not have to prepare a speciic report. However, the ISE has three main approaches to contribute to public information. In 2011, the ISE started a transparency promotion effort by including in its questionnaire a request for authorization to disclose the company’s answers on the ISE website62. A positive response to this question is worth 15 points – higher than all other questions to further incentivise transparency. Thirty-four companies authorized disclosure of such information in the ISE’s 2013/2014 portfolio. Secondly, after participating in the selection process, companies receive a feedback report prepared by GVces. The report contains the score obtained by the company, compared to the average, maximum and minimum scores of all participants, as well as a qualitative opinion on the documents presented by the company to support its questionnaire answers. This report belongs to the company, which may choose to further disclose its content. Finally, BM&FBOVESPA and GVces prepare and publish consolidated data and analyses based on the answers provided by participating companies. Level of Complexity A challenge for companies applying for ISE listing has been to clearly understand the selection criteria used in the index’s methodology. The complexity of sustainability issues can lead to ambiguity and subjectivity in the interpretation of the ISE questionnaire and other sustainability tools. The current methodology uses the same questionnaire to assess companies 62 www.isebvmf.com.br 72 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR of different economic sectors. Both the clarity of the questions and the sectoral customization are points to which the index methodology still needs to dedicate special attention. Incentives and Penalties As described above, companies eligible to the ISE portfolio undergo a qualitative assessment consisting in an evaluation of randomly selected documents submitted by the company to conirm the questionnaire answers (one for each section of the questionnaire). The veriication is performed by GVces staff, and veriied by a qualiied auditing company (KPMG as of 2015). Removal of companies from the index is the ISE’s mechanism to ensure compliance with the information submitted both at the moment of submission and throughout the yearly portfolio cycle of the index. A company shall be removed from the index’s theoretical portfolio in the event that: 1. Any of the inclusion criteria (see “ISE objectives” above) is no longer met; 2. In the course of the portfolio cycle, it is designated to be under ‘exceptional trading status’. In this event, the removal will be implemented from the close of the irst trading day following recognition of such status; and 3. An occurrence in the course of the portfolio cycle has (in the discretion of the ISE Governance Committee) materially and adversely affected the corporate sustainability performance of the issuer. In this event, the removal will be implemented in accordance with the removal decision of the ISE Governance Committee (CISE). Policy Monitoring A Key Driver for Sustainable Corporate Practices In 2010, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) evaluated63 the hypothesis that sustainability corporates show superior performance and that the inclusion of a company in a sustainability index would stimulate demand for its shares and increase their price. In order to be included in the ISE, companies have to demonstrate the quality of their sustainability practices, a process that could improve the company’s competitiveness and may lead to an enhanced reputation. 63 BM&FBOVESPA Sustainability Index & the Responsible Practices of Brazilian Corporations, IFC, 2010: http://bit.ly/1ipJLu7 73 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR The IFC concluded that the ISE had a considerable impact on corporate practice among ISE listed companies and those not part of the index. In this sense, the ISE serves as a key driver for the introduction of sustainable corporate practices. The ISE questionnaire relects the need for compliance with legal requirements and encourages voluntary corporate sustainability practices. Challenges in Promoting Sustainable Investment The introduction of the ISE was followed by the creation of new SRI funds, but most of them have remained relatively small, with the market controlled by the two funds that existed before the creation of the index. In October 2010, there were 10 SRI funds in Brazil managing US$580 million. The two largest among them, which existed prior to the ISE, managed 70% of the assets. Most of the observed market growth has resulted from value appreciation. Considering the index’s strategic objectives, it can be concluded that the creation of ISE stimulated an investment culture compatible with the SRI tendencies, and encouraged the launch of new SRI funds in the country. Companies that belong to sustainability indices are more capable of attracting socially responsible investors in Brazil or abroad, as the index is seen as an eficient and reliable market signal that a company has integrated sustainable practices. However, the ISE has had limited success in serving as a benchmark for larger investors, who continue favouring traditional inancial indices. The main obstacle to higher investor engagement is the limited evidence to support the argument that corporate sustainability is important for investors because it aims to increase long-term shareholder value by integrating long-term economic, environmental and social aspects into the business strategy. In addition, the relatively small number (40) of ISE listed companies only provides room for partial investment diversiication. Each year, the issuers of the 200 most liquid shares on the BM&FBOVESPA, i.e. approximately 180 companies, are invited to participate in the ISE selection process. However, the number of companies who actually participate remains between 45 and 55 each year. There is a clear need to attract more companies to participate in the selection process. Conclusion Financial sector companies compete at many levels, including on reputation, 74 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR which is an essential element in building trust with potential customers. Linking the power of the market to build and protect long-term value creation for the company and Brazilian society has been a useful strategy for the Brazilian stock exchanges. 4.4.1.2 SOUTH AFRICA: JOHANNESBURG STOCK EXCHANGE SRI INDEX Policy Evolution When the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) adopted the King II Code of Corporate Governance as part of its listing requirements in 2003, it became one of the irst international exchanges to require sustainability reporting. King II, which became a JSE listing requirement in 2003, on a “comply or explain” basis, explicitly required companies to implement the practice of sustainability reporting as a core aspect of corporate governance. While neither the Code, nor the JSE, speciically required the use of the GRI sustainability reporting framework, it became the de-facto benchmark of good sustainability reporting.64 While the JSE listing requirements and the SRI Index function separately, a company in material breach of JSE regulation, particularly as it relates to reporting on the implementation of the King Code, would struggle to meet the requirements for the SRI Index. Neither the JSE nor the King Code requires audit or assurance of sustainability or integrated reporting, although King III strongly recommends it. However, the JSE Listing Requirements as well as the Companies Act require audit of the inancial statements issued by a company. The third version of the Code, King III, became operational in 2010 and included more speciic recommendations on reporting in an integrated fashion; this version of the King Code was also incorporated by the JSE listing requirements on a “comply or explain” basis. Although King III anticipated that sustainability reporting would continue as a necessary foundation to good integrated thinking and reporting, it focused on the integration of material issues, speciically including ESG issues, alongside the inancials to enable better decision making by stakeholders. King III supports the notion of sustainability reporting, but makes the case that although it used to be done in addition to inancial reporting, it now should now be integrated with inancial reporting. 64 https://www.jse.co.za/content/JSERulesPoliciesandRegulationItems/Background%20and%20Criteria%202014.pdf 75 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR The JSE launched the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index in South Africa in May 2004 to identify those companies listed on the JSE that integrate the principles of the triple bottom line and good governance into their business activities. They were evaluated (but not ranked) on an annual basis against set criteria that were available on the JSE’s website. While the eligible universe of companies was the All Share Index (or all listed companies), the SRI Index was initially based on voluntary participation, and attracted participation mostly by large listed companies. Automatic assessment of the TOP 40 companies was introduced in 2007 and was expanded to the TOP 100 with voluntary participation available to all other companies in 2008. Automatic assessment of the smaller companies, and, thus the full All Share Index, started in 2013. The All Share Index comprises companies representing 99% of the JSE’s market capitalization, usually around 160 companies. The SRI Index provides a broad assessment of company policies and practices against globally aligned and locally relevant corporate responsibility standards. Over the years, the index has incrementally increased the reporting requirements in terms of both depth of coverage and number of issues covered, adding material elements relevant to the country – such as indicators on HIV and AIDS issues as well as black economic empowerment and skills development – and more recently increasing the focus on reporting on greenhouse gas emissions. While the SRI Index evaluation process does not claim to be a measure of legal compliance, it has in the past excluded companies on the basis of known infringements or material breaches, for example of competition law. The SRI Index has always been seen as a facilitation vehicle to enable investors to consider non-inancial risk variables in investment decisions, as such risks do carry the potential to have signiicant inancial impacts. Overall, the SRI Index contributed to the development of responsible business practice in South Africa and beyond65. In 2015, the SRI Index transitioned to the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index Series. Policy Design By 2014, all companies listed in the FTSE/JSE All Share Index were eligible to be part of the SRI Index66. The indicators covered areas of policies and management and how these should be relected in the reporting of each ESG pillar (see Table 6). Moreover, a distinction between core and desirable indicators allowed for distinction between issues considered as minimum requirements from those that may be more aspirational. Overall, the index 65 https://www.jse.co.za/content/JSERulesPoliciesandRegulationItems/Background%20and%20Criteria%202014.pdf 66 The FTSE/JSE All Share Index has 164 constituents, whereas the SRI Index has 82 (2014). 76 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR criteria served as a guidance framework for companies to identify issues that could affect their business and stakeholders. Since inception, the index incorporated a sector classiication requiring sectors with a higher impact on the environment to report in more detail on their management of environmental impacts than those sectors with a lower impact classiication. A requirement to report on climate change indicators was added in 2010. Information on senior responsibility, climate change commitments and emissions needed to be reported in order to meet this assessment. TABLE 6 JSE SRI INDEX AREAS OF MEASUREMENT ENVIRONMENT • Addressing all key issues • Working towards environmental sustainability CLIMATE CHANGE • Managing and reporting on efforts to reduce carbon emissions and deal with the effects of climate change SOCIETY GOVERNANCE AND RELATED CONCERNS • Training and Development • Employee Relations • Health and Safety • Equal Opportunities • Community Relations • Stakeholder Engagement • Black Economic Empowerment • Diversity in Workforce • HIV / AIDS • • • • • Board Practice Ethics Indirect Impacts Business Value and Risk Management Broader Economic Issues The SRI Index was speciic in the requirements for inclusion, although lexibility was allowed in some cases – e.g. the index criteria are not speciic in terms of the format of publication (e.g. included in an annual report or website), as long as information is available in the public domain. The SRI Index is recognised by companies as having spurred action on reporting and engagement in sustainability issues. The index statistics on companies meeting the requirements as well as expanded conversations between the JSE and issuers evidences this success.67 These conversations are in the form of brieings to companies, master classes and investor days at which SRI leading companies were invited to present and respond to questions. When appropriate, conversations were held with sectors – such as 67 https://www.jse.co.za/content/JSEPresentationItems/2014SRIAnnualResultsPressRelease.pdf 77 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR with the mining industry following the Marikana disaster – as well as one-onone conversations with companies to explain their failure to meet inclusion requirements. A JSE-convened independent advisory committee for the SRI Index and a special sub-committee previously dealt with policy changes and contested issues (these have fallen away in the past year due to the switch to the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment index, although FTSE maintains a UKbased advisory committee). While failure to be included in the index or a low score had reputational and investor consequences for companies, it did not have an impact on its standing as a listed company. Policy Monitoring The JSE’s reporting requirements around governance and application of the King Code principles, in combination with the SRI Index process, have been signiicantly inluential in enhancing the quality and completeness of corporate disclosure around sustainability issues. The increase of companies included in the SRI Index is evidence of this, as well as various companies using the SRI Index as a benchmark driving reporting content. The SRI Index has also expanded the relationships of the JSE to stakeholders such as NGOs in the ESG or corporate responsibility environment, consulting irms and monitoring groups. Moreover, at least two reporting awards were based on the SRI Index, namely the EY Excellence in Sustainability Reporting. The Nkonki Integrated Reporting award still uses the SRI Index constituency as a base for research. The JSE announced on 3 June 2015 that it is partnering with FTSE Russell to further advance the promotion of ESG disclosure by listed companies. This new offering will replace the pioneering SRI Index, which has been the JSE’s lagship sustainability product since 2004. The new offering will build on the achievements of the SRI Index and the strides of corporates, while enabling expanded opportunities for investors to integrate ESG issues into investments. Moreover, the JSE’s collaboration with FTSE Russell from 2015 will signiicantly expand the scope for creation of inancial products based on ESG criteria. The new index series was launched in October 2015 with the 2016 results expected in the second half of the year. Conclusion The JSE has demonstrated that with incremental change over a period of 78 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR time, it is possible to build a reporting culture within corporations, including the inancial sector. The linking of the JSE’s SRI Index and the King Code on Corporate Governance was a key factor in the rapid uptake of this practice. Research will be required over time to determine if sustainability reporting practices continue. 4.4.2 Labels and Awards: The Austrian Case Before the rise of CSR in the late 1990s, a general understanding of corporate responsibility was incorporated in Austria through the dissemination of environmental reporting schemes and, particularly, the Sozialpartnerschaft, the Austrian Cooperative partnership between government, business, labour and other partners. Despite the relative early steps in transparency, more profound CSR approaches and transparent sustainability reporting developed slowly. This is also true for the Austrian inancial industry, which has had a narrowly deined understanding of sustainability, focusing mainly on employee relations, corporate citizenship and ofice ecology. The social and ecological impact of inancial products and the associated monetary stocks and lows has largely not been reported. The improvement of the societal discourse on CSR development in the political system and the Austrian Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSTRAT) have more systematically formalized and institutionalized the topic since 2002. The NSTRAT was the starting point of a comprehensive multistakeholder approach to address, establish and institutionalize sustainability at the political level. The publication emphasizes transparency as an important factor for various ields. NSTRAT’s documentation contains various precise objectives for improvement of sustainability reporting both in general and in the inancial markets. Speciically, in the inancial sector, the strategy included the promotion of “Ethical-Ecological Investments”68, including a mandatory declaration of pension funds and an environmental impact assessment for federal sureties issued by the Austrian Control Bank. The explicit inclusion of the inancial sector was an important part of the frameworks and instruments that later came into existence, such as the Sustainable Development Strategy of the Federal and State Governments (ÖSTRAT). Created in 2010, the ÖSTRAT is the irst sustainable development strategy addressing both the national and regional level in Austria. It follows 68 See Project “Ethical-Ecological Investments” by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and WaterManagement, carried out by ÖGUT: “The aim of the project is to support and consolidate the market for ethicalecological investments in Austria. This is to be achieved with increased public relations and information work, a revival of supply and demand, and by changing the framework conditions (e.g. mandatory declaration of pension funds withregard to their investment criteria). Activities to enhance the quality of the market are also planned.” (ÖSTRAT, 2002, Annex p.21) 79 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR the work advanced by the NSTRAT by building up on its objectives and policy principles. The associated Working Programme (ÖSTRAT, 2011a) includes a chapter on “Corporate Social Responsibility” and the relevance of inancial and capital markets. Both the NSTRAT and the ÖSTRAT include a clear indication of the mechanisms that should be developed for the promotion of issues related to sustainable development. The NSTRAT states: “The principle of motivation instead of punishment must become the guiding principle for the relationship between enterprises and the administration”. This has been repeatedly accentuated in the ÖSTRAT. In consequence, incentive-orientated programmes have been emphasized in Austria and two legislative frameworks of particular interest for the inancial sector came into existence: • The Austrian Commercial Code requires large capital companies to include into the management summary “information about employee and environmental issues”. • The 1990 Pension Fund Act was amended in 2005 and now requires that pension funds report on “ethical, ecological and/or social criteria” if they applied. Other legal frameworks for the inancial sector, such as the Austrian Banking Act, the Federal Act on Investment Funds, the Stock Corporation Act or the Consumer Credit Act have not incorporated relevant criteria for sustainability transparency apart from Gender Policies and Corporate Governance. The Role of the Public Sector The public sector has a signiicant role in the promotion of sustainability reporting in Austria. This is further stated in NSTRAT and more profoundly in the National Action Plan on CSR (NAP CSR), where public institutions, state and parastatal corporations are encouraged to take a pioneering role in promoting both sustainability reporting and socially responsible investment. The irst draft on the NAP CSR was published in 2013. It constituted a joint effort between the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW) and the Ministry of Economy. The NAP CSR is based on the renewed EU strategy 2011-2014 for Corporate Social Responsibility69. One of the objectives of the ield of action 3 “Promotion of CSR through incentives” targets the inancial market: “Incentives through SRI”. Under this objective, four targets are highlighted 69 COM/2011/0681 Communication from the Commission to the European parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee of the regions – A renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility. 80 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR and reviewed: 1. Implementation of an expert group for an SRI Codex (including quality and transparency standards); 2. Promotion of SRI through the active use of governance tools (e.g. subsidies) with orientation to international standards; 3. Promotion of the Austrian Ecolabel; 4. Integration of SRI criteria and standards in the Pension Fund Act Contrary to most EU member states, the NAP CSR in Austria is still under review. The most important recent development is the transposition of the EU guideline on non-inancial reporting. BMLFUW initiated or supported various other projects to increase the sustainability performance and transparency in the inancial sector. The passive government support and leadership added to the lack of a demanding legislative framework and wide-ranging incentives have inluenced various stakeholders of the inancial industry to play a crucial part in initiating and designing instruments to increase the importance of corporate sustainability. Informal structures and networks have been of relevance to establish CSR and reporting in the sector. Some of the projects that have been developed are: • Plattform Grünes Geld (“Green Money” Platform): A website initiated by the BMLFUW and the Austrian Society for Environment and Technology (ÖGUT) that provides information on “green money”. The project is part of NSTRAT. • VÖNIX Sustainability Index: Composed of the leading Austrian companies listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange in terms of sustainability. Its partners are the Vienna Stock Exchange, VBV Vorsorgekasse and rfu sustainability research consulting. • Austrian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ethical Investment Guidelines: Published in 2011, the guidelines include ethical considerations and particularly exclusion criteria for shares, bonds, investment funds, hedge funds and real estate. In addition, the industry-speciic standards formed one of the most important drivers for increased quality and quantity of sustainability reporting. The most utilized are the GRI’s Financial Services Sector Disclosure guidance, the Principles for Responsible Investment, the IFC’s Environmental and Social Performance Standards, the Equator Principles and the EUROSIF standards. 81 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Pension Fund Act A 2005 amendment to the 1990 Pension Fund Act requires pension funds to report on “ethical, ecological and/or social criteria”. During the parliamentary debate of the amendment, there was consensus on paragraph 25a, which speciies the need to include SRI reporting, as proposed in ÖSTRAT. The funds must declare their investment policy principles for every investment and risk-sharing group. The declaration must include the ethical, ecological and/or social criteria for the selection of potential assets. The provisions do not include speciic requirements on the issues that should be reported. Pension funds still only apply SRI methodologies to a small extent. There is a big gap in terms of sustainability reporting between the pension funds and the severance pay funds. The pension funds argue that their customers, mostly organizations, do not ask for SRI information and the topic is therefore hardly on the agenda. While it is mandatory for severance pay funds to address these issues, it remains voluntary for the pension funds. Various experts claim that this difference inluenced the success of the introduction of the SRI. Voluntary Instruments Promoting Disclosure The two main instruments promoting SRI and sustainability reporting are: the Austrian Ecolabel for Financial Products (UZ49) and the ÖGUT Sustainability Certiication. They mainly cover three types of funds, described below: • Investment Funds: The Association of Austrian Investment Companies (VÖIG in German) lists 24 management companies with more than 2000 investment funds. In 2014, the AUM amounted to €163bn of which approximately one tenth are managed for pension funds. • Pension Funds: The 14 pension funds, consisting of 113 investment and risk associations (VRG – Veranlagungs- und Risikogemeinschaften) had €20,2bn AUM in 2015 of which 95% were allocated in investment funds. The seven multi-company pension funds represent 90% hereof. • New Severance Payment Funds: There are nine funds in the market. In 2014, these institutions reported €7,3bn AUM. All instruments account for €174bn AUM, a small amount compared to the inancial sector size which quadruples the Austrian GDP (€428bn AUM)70, but that could represent an excellent contribution to the SRI markets with 70 International Monetary Fund. 2013. Austria: Financial Sector Stability Assessment 82 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR accounted for €19,7bn AUM in 201371. 4.4.2.1 AUSTRIAN ECOLABEL FOR FINANCIAL PRODUCTS (UZ49) Policy Evolution The Austrian Ecolabel, founded in 1990, aims to supply the customer with necessary information for environmentally sound products. The Ecolabel for Sustainable Financial Products (UZ49) was published in 2004 and last reviewed in 2012. The BMLFUW is the carrier organization in charge and the Austrian consumer advocacy group (VKI - Verein für KonsumentInneninformation) is responsible for its administration. An expert committee is responsible for the development of guidelines. Chaired by the VKI, the body has representatives of various stakeholder groups such as governmental representatives, social partners (employee and employer representatives), NGOs (environmental and consumer advocacy) and experts from the concerned areas (SRI experts and representatives of investment funds). Policy Design The Ecolabel (UZ49) can be awarded only to investment funds. Its guideline mentions as potentially positive impacts: the improvement of reporting, better funding and a higher image on potential investment products. The General Statute of the Austrian Ecolabel subsumes three central purposes, including the importance of providing consumers with information on (comparatively) environmental products and the promotion of market-driven change towards more environmentally friendly products and services. The guideline is based on three pillars: 1. Selection criteria; 2. Quality of analytical process; and 3. Transparency The transparency pillar refers to the EUROSIF-Standard whereof investment criteria, research process and selection, and implementation are expressed explicitly. The documentation highlights selected categories of the EUROSIFStandard and includes an annex with a list of questions, including questions to 71 Eurosif. European SRI Study 2014. 83 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR deine the transparency requirement for the user. It uses terms and concepts well known in ethical investment. A short glossary describes the few technical terms. The transparency requirements are obligatory in any case and cannot be compensated through higher ratings in the other two pillars. The guideline of the Ecolabel does not specify a particular reporting format required for meeting the transparency requirements. Despite this, the label follows EUROSIF and its requirements in practice. In order to obtain the label the inancial institution is required to hand in comprehensive documentation on the respective inancial product. An external auditor evaluates the documents along a structured process. If the fund does not fulil the transparency guidelines, conditions for improvement are imposed. If the investment fund does not react, the label would be withdrawn although this has not happened. Approximately half of the new applicants receive stipulations on transparency in order to obtain the label. Policy Monitoring The Austrian Ecolabel for Financial Products has shown an increase in the number of participants in recent years, particularly from 2009 onwards. In October 2014, 43 funds had labelled products that managed €2,4bn, which accounts for 1,5% of the Austrian AUM. This indicates that the impact of the instrument on the whole industry is still very limited and there is space for progress. A high application of the EUROSIF standard has been observed with approximately 90% of the certiied funds applying this standard. Moreover, roughly half of the new companies applying for the label introduce this standard to comply with the certiication process. Hence, a direct impact on transparency is visible. For the purpose of this report, only the public communications of the certiied funds were screened. Furthermore, the Austrian Federal Chamber for Employees analysed the publicly available information on 10 Austrian sustainable investment funds. Apart from the different deinitions of sustainability in general and varied implementation in the way social and ecological criteria are applied, the study found a lack of transparency. The supericial deinition of applied criteria and lacking reasoning for the ethical inclusion of the inancially most important assets were criticized. Information on the evaluation process (e.g. rating agencies) and the recurring actualization were considered insuficient. 84 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 4.4.2.2 ÖGUT SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATION Policy Evolution The Austrian Society for Environment and Technology (OGÜT), founded in 1985, is an environmental think-tank with around 80 members from various ields (ministries, public authorities, private industry and enterprises, environmental NGOs). Since 2004, the ÖGUT tests and certiies severance pay funds according to their SRI practices. Since the New Severance Pay Funds were based on employee funds, the labour union had an interest to allocate the funds in a sustainable way. Representatives of the union participated in the funds’ committee and were, therefore, able to exercise more inluence to emphasize this topic. The ÖGUT, which already had a working group on sustainable investment in place, conducted a survey to analyse the reality of how far the severance pay funds had implemented SRI. As a consequence, one of the funds (BAWAG/Allianz) suggested institutionalising the process to give it an oficial character (label/ certiication). Following this recommendation, the “Green Money” working group formed a small group of experts, which has been responsible for the sustainability assessment. The certiication process includes a hearing with the severance pay funds, where feedback is given in both directions. Initially, members of the union participated in the jury as well. The role of ÖGUT changed in time from being the organizer to being responsible for the whole certiication process. The BMLFUW has provided inancial means and awards the severance pay funds with the certiicates, but was not an initiator. Policy Design ÖGUT supports the severance pay funds and pension funds in communicating their leading role in SRI to institutional investors and the public. It was initially focused on severance pay funds and was later extended to pension funds. The assessment covers three areas: 1. Principles and processes; 2. Portfolio; 3. Transparency, communication and engagement The screened funds have to provide the ÖGUT with documentation on their 85 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR SRI-approach and implementation. The certiication includes the aspects on publicly available information, but there are no deined criteria. Moreover, an eligible fund has to include a short statement on the yearly account sheet for the customers. The labelling process promotes SRI in general, and the impact on transparency is therefore rather indirect, as companies implementing SRI also publish information as a consequence. The documentation of ÖGUT states that transparency for the customer and the public has to be ensured but this is not further deined. However, at least one major document with information on the investment policy has to be publicly available. Moreover, the label guidelines include a mechanism to enable continuous improvements. Following the certiication process the funds receive a list of recommendations, which also includes issues on transparency. If a company does not react repeatedly on these recommendations, a negative impact on the rating is possible. In addition, depending on the availability of resources, the ÖGUT publishes a summary report on the certiication of all funds at irregular intervals. Policy Monitoring Many experts share the view that the ÖGUT Sustainability Certiication has been one of the most important driving factors for the dissemination of SRI in Austria. In terms of the market reach, the scheme has proven very effective. In 2015, eight out of nine severance pay funds (roughly 90% of the assets under management in this sector) participated in the certiication process. The effect in the sub-sector is clearly visible compared to other sectors, most importantly the pension funds. There is an interesting correlation between the severance pay funds’ performance and the quality of the SRI policy. 86 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR FIGURE 5 ÖGUT SUSTAINABILITY SCORES Despite lacking speciic requirements for transparency, the instrument contributed indirectly to sustainability reporting. The certiication process successfully introduced investment policy, a core topic of sustainability in the inancial sector. Due to the process of certiication, companies of the sector had to familiarise themselves with and understand the effects of including sustainability topics in their investment policy to further document their SRI policy. In consequence, a common requirement to report was established and today every severance pay fund reports on this issue. There is no speciic evaluation of the inancial industry in Austria. For the purpose of this publication, rfu sustainability research consulting analysed the current reporting status of the largest inancial institutions in Austria. Apart from the general existence of a sustainability report, the application of the initiatives under scrutiny was evaluated. The indings in subsectors of interest are presented in the following table: 87 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR TABLE 7 AUSTRIAN COMPARISON OF REPORTING BETWEEN INVESTMENT FUNDS, SEVERANCE PAY FUNDS, PENSION FUNDS INVESTMENT FUNDS SEVERANCE PAY FUNDS The reporting shows the sector’s efforts towards sustainability and its SRI leading role. Correlation between market share and transparency on SRI: The ive biggest management companies (≈2/3 of market share) address SRI systematically and provide information on their approaches. The smaller the companies are the less information is publicly available. All websites have a section on sustainability and its relation to the investment policy. The majority of management reports include information on non-inancial performance. A reference to the ÖGUT certiication is always present. As of June 2015, only 44 of approximately 2000 investment funds existing in the market have been certiied according to EUROSIF (2%). Three of the nine severance pay funds publish a sustainability report or an integrated report, two of which are GRI-compliant. PENSION FUNDS The sustainability reporting of all 14 pension funds hardly provides any relevant information and cannot compete with the severance pay funds in terms of depth and breadth. Only three of the seven multicompany pension funds address sustainability on their website, all of which are organizationally linked to the three severance pay funds that are SRIfrontrunners in the ÖGUT-certiication. Conclusion The Ecolabel and the ÖGUT have certainly signalled the reporting practices of the three smallest inancial subsectors72 in Austria. However, the response towards disclosure and transparency, including the use of international frameworks, varies across groups. That is partially due to the view each sector has towards the consideration of ESG criteria. A clear understanding of the importance of ESG disclosure in the inancial sector as a whole is key to accelerating the reporting dynamics of the sector. 72 Based on assets under management 88 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 5. Case Studies from Around the World 5.1 Public Sector Reporting in the UK The HM Treasury 73 in the United Kingdom issues minimum reporting requirements for all central government bodies, including departments, non-ministerial departments, non-departmental public bodies and any other organization required to produce annual inancial reports. It is no longer a requirement to produce a stand-alone document but reporting organizations can still do so if they wish. In its March 2016 guidance document, the HM Treasury sets minimum reporting requirements, including: overall strategy for sustainability, GHG emissions (Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3), waste minimisation and management, inite resource consumption, biodiversity action planning and sustainable procurement. Guidance includes detail on boundaries, materiality, offsets, and use of external sources. Listed companies are required to produce Directors and Strategic Reports under the Companies Act of 2006. In terms of the 2013 Regulations, quoted companies must report their annual GHG emissions in the Directors’ report At the end of March 2016, the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (see chapter 3.3) presented to the UK Financial Stability Board a report that sets out the scope and high-level objectives and fundamental principles of disclosure with a view to providing an enduring disclosure framework. A inal report scheduled for the end of 2016 will set out “speciic recommendations and guidelines for voluntary disclosure by identifying practices to improve consistency, accessibility, clarity and usefulness of climate-related inancial reporting.” 5.2 Indian Reserve Bank Takes Action The Reserve Bank of India has been issuing circulars and guidance on the Role of Banks in Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Non-Financial Reporting since 2007. Over the years, a series of actions aimed at increasing uptake and awareness within the banks has taken place, including the launch of the S&P ESG India Index in 2008; the release of 73 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ile/279330/PU1632_Sustainability_ Reporting_Guidance.pdf 89 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR national voluntary guidelines on the responsibilities of businesses in 2011; the launch of the S&P BSE Carbonex; the 2013 launch of the MSCI ESG India Index. In 2013, the Companies Act was amended to require that 2% of proits be spent on CSR. In 2015, renewable energy was included under priority sector lending and the India Banking Association issued guidelines on responsible banking. Exim Bank of India issues a ive-year US$500 million green bond and YES Bank issued the irst INR-denominated green bond. In 2016, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) made disclosure compulsory for the Top 100 listed entities (by market capitalisation) – using a reporting framework based on closed questions (‘yes/no’), with no answers requiring explanation. SEBI proposed new norms for the issuance and listing of green bonds. Research has indicated that an increasing number of inancial institutions are issuing sustainability reports or have disclosure on corporate responsibility. A very small proportion of these use existing frameworks such as the GRI, CDP and UNGC. 5.3 Banking on Change in Nigeria, Bangladesh and China In 2012, the Nigerian and Bangladeshi authorities issued green banking or sustainable banking guidelines. The Chinese Central Bank issued implementation regulations for the Green Credit Guidelines it had introduced in 2006. All three address the connection between inancial sector activities and sustainable development, and formulate guidelines for sustainable banking policies, strategies, practices, products and services. While reporting is part of these principles and guidelines, it is not the primary focus. The Centre for International Governance Innovation issued a 2015 review74 of impact of these approaches and concluded that: “While compliance in Nigeria is high, with 90% of the Nigerian banks complying, it is lower in Bangladesh and in China (30 to 60%).” The paper concludes that, irstly, the mandatory guidelines have an impact on the sustainability performance of banks. In all three cases, sustainability performance increased after the introduction of the guidelines. Secondly, the inclusion of the banking sector into the development of inancial sustainability regulations increases the success of the regulation. Thirdly, activities to support the implementation of inancial sustainability guidelines 74 https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/iles/cigi_paper_no77_web.pdf 90 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR and supervising the compliance with the guidelines are crucial for the success of inancial sector sustainability regulations. Fourthly, inancial sector sustainability regulations have a positive impact on the inancial sector’s inancial performance, stability and sustainability performance. It is the authors’ view that further research will be needed over time. BOX D AUSTRIAN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING AWARD (ASRA) The Austrian Sustainability Reporting Award (ASRA), awarded by the Austrian Chamber of Chartered Public Accountants and Tax Consultants and organized by a cooperation of different stakeholders is a voluntary scheme to award Austrian organizations (independently of the industry, the type of organization and their size) that have shown a remarkable performance in sustainability reporting. Its goal is to support and increase quality and quantity of sustainability reports. The ASRA applies a rating methodology to evaluate the quality of sustainability reports. By contrast to the ÖGUT certiication and the Ecolabel (UZ49), the main focus is on transparency. In four meta-topics, 21 criteria are rated along a score evaluation. In order to evaluate the quality of the reporting and the underlying process, four different levels of achievement have been deined for each indicator: 1. Vision, Strategy, Materiality a. b. c. d. e. f. g. Strategy Vision Performance Targets Integration of stakeholders Materiality Completeness 2. Principles of Reporting a. b. c. d. e. f. 91 Balanced reporting Comparability Accurateness Actuality Clearness Reliability and veriiability SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR BOX D AUSTRIAN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING AWARD (ASRA) (CONT.) 3. Internal Processes a. b. c. d. Organization and management Governance Supply chain / value chain Programme development 4. Internal Pocesses a. b. c. d. Trend Targets Ambitiousness and innovative capacity Compliance classiication according to GRI / IIRC Sustainability reports or integrated reports can be handed it. There are no further mandatory requirements in this regard (e.g. third party certiication). In a two-stage process, the submitted reports are evaluated quantitatively and later discussed qualitatively in the jury. The ASRA has been one of various important driving factors for the increasing transparency and quality of Austrian sustainability reports. It allows deducting best practice example of the industry, such as VBV Vorsorgekasse and OeKB, who have won awards in several years. Furthermore, RZB Group was honoured for their recent improvements. 92 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 6. Best Practice Examples of GoF47 Public Financial Institutions 6.1 ERAFP (France) The French Public Service Supplementary Pension Scheme, ERAFP75, was created by the French pension reform law of 21 August 2003. It manages the retirement beneits of civil servants from the French government and local authorities through a fully funded scheme. ERAFP is one of the few pension funds that manages 100% of its €23 billion of assets on a socially responsible basis. The ERAFP board approved an SRI policy at the inception of the fund in 2005. Since then, more detailed rating frameworks have been adapted to the speciic requirements of the different asset classes in which it invests. In 2012, shareholder engagement guidelines were adopted, followed by a climate change strategy. ERAFP’s policy is consistent with its long-term investment horizon. It has designed an ESG reporting standard as it did not ind a reporting standard suitable for asset owners. A best in class approach for 40 ESG criteria is used to assess the compliance of each issuer. It is linked to the UN principles, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. ERAFP views its screening processes as essential to ensuring it can provide ‘reasonable assurance’ that it will be able to deliver on the promises it makes with every contribution it receives from the French civil servants. The fund follows prudent asset-liability management and solvency frameworks. It uses a low discount rate to allow it to keep expected returns realistic, and therefore to make steadier allocation decisions in times of turmoil. ERAFP considers it a iduciary duty to integrate the analysis of all factors, including ESG issues that may affect the value of their assets. Their annual report contains inancial and non-inancial performance and explains the impact of ESG issues on the inancial performance. Its reporting audience is its beneiciaries, the investment community and regulatory bodies. 75 www.erafp.fr 93 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR ERAFP’s key challenge is the development of the right methodology to assess the climate change impact indicators. It currently provides information on the carbon footprint of the equity portfolio and it is working on the methodology of sovereign bonds and real estate. The carbon intensity of its portfolio is 19% lower than the benchmark index, the MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index). In 2014, ERAFP worked with the French asset manager Amundi on a methodology to reduce the carbon footprint of a portfolio of €750 million managed under an index-based mandate. An additional ilter on the carbon intensity is applied: 5% of the most polluting companies globally and 20% of the most polluting of each sector are excluded from the portfolio. ERAFP’s policy objectives are in line with Article 173 of the Law on Energy Transition and Green Growth (see chapter 4.1.2) and as such, its efforts are focused more on incentives to meet SRI requirements rather than being compliance driven. As a member of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change and signatory to the PRI and other initiatives on climate change, ERAFP takes part in engagement initiatives towards regulatory authorities. 6.2 Caisse des Dépôts (France) The Caisse des Dépôts Group is deined under French Law on the Modernisation of the Economy as a public sector long-term investor serving general interest and the economic development of the country. It is focused on innovation and sustainable growth. The group invests in development projects in France, to catalyse further private sector inance. In addition, it manages a signiicant portfolio of inancial assets and subsidiaries. Caisse des Dépôts is a member of the UN PRI, the Montreal Carbon Pledge, CDP, UNEP FI and the UN Global Compact. It has 100% of its assets managed in-house in accordance with an ESG policy. Although not within the formal scope of the Law on National Commitment for the Environment, it decided in 2012 to comply voluntarily, revamping its sustainability reporting to meet all of the legal requirements, the GRI indicators, PRI reporting and the indicators requested by ratings agencies. Since 2014, it has included a voting record in its sustainability report. The company has consulted with sustainability experts, ESG brokers, the ORSE (a French study centre on CSR) and the Institut RSE (Institute for Corporate Social Responsibility) to ensure that their indicators are in line with 94 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR group policies and can be used for internal strategic planning and project development as well as external reporting. Internally, the group’s sustainability reporting informs its strategic decisions. Externally, the aim is to enhance accountability. The report targets several audiences and feedback is sought, most recently using a web-based survey. This provides information for its materiality map and underlying indicators. The availability and quality of data are problems for non-listed subsidiaries and SMEs. A further challenge is that of presenting the data in a way that is user friendly while providing the relevant detail for a large group with varied activities. Caisse des Dépôts has commitments to diminish the carbon footprint of its equity portfolio by 20% by 2020. The main enabler is enhanced shareholder policy and includes engagement, dialogue and follow-up on issuers’ performance. The group has to comply with Article 173 of the Law on Energy Transition for Green Growth and its progress will be reported in their annual reports. A week before COP21, Caisse de Dépôts announced its commitment to diminish 20% of the carbon footprint of its equity portfolios by 2020. The main enabler is its enhanced shareholder policy, which consists of engagement, dialogue and follow-up of issues’ performance. The group has to comply with Article 173 of the Law on Energy Transition for Green Growth and this commitment is part of the actions taken to support the international and national climate goals. Progress will be relected in the group’s annual reporting. The group is currently mapping all these themes and indictors relevant for compliance with Article 173. It is undergoing analysis to identify methodological gaps and prioritizing the roll out of additional indicators to reduce double reporting burdens or indicators that are not useful. 6.3 FINDETER (Colombia) FINDETER (Financiera de Desarollo Territorial), is a public development bank accessing funds provided by the French Development Agency (AFD) and a technical cooperation programme which accesses European Union funds. It also works with the Latin American Investment Facility (LAIF). A further €5m partnership between FINDETER and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) aims to support and structure priority local development projects. FINDETER’s role is to provide strategic, inancial and technical support to Colombian local authorities by strengthening their inancial structures. It 95 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR therefore indirectly inances green and inclusive municipal urban policies, which have the following objectives: • Providing access to water and sanitation for the poorest communities, support responsible water management and improve urban sanitation; • Strengthening the household waste collection sector; • Supporting the development of eco-friendly urban transport; • Supporting initiatives to open up dificult neighbourhoods and for the balanced development of urban territories; • Financing social housing development programmes; • Producing renewable energy; • Helping to strengthen the inancial situation of municipalities Public reporting on its performance and future outlook is a requirement of its legal and statutory status as well as of its funders. It has produced a Sustainable Development report annually for several years with increasing focus on GRI reporting standards. Decree 4167 of November 2011 created a change in the bank’s legal structure. From 2012 it focused on projects fundamental to the company’s vision of being the Development Bank for the Country’s Infrastructure and the 20122014 Strategic Plan. The board of directors adopted a signiicant decision regarding the reorganization of the bank and the addition of new skills in the areas of technical assistance, project structuring as well as social and environmental responsibility. Corporate governance was strengthened through the incorporation of a Code of Ethics into the administrative policies, and the reinforcement of human resources policies that develop employee competencies, skills and aptitudes. After incorporating its new commercial strategy, Findeter’s disbursements reached $2.32 billion in 2012, of which 90% was used to bolster the national government in areas such as transport, energy development, drinkable water, basic sanitation, construction, housing, health and education. Findeter also deepened its regional presence by applying its credit resources to 107 municipalities in 26 departments through 1,469 operations. Commercial management has been oriented towards the inancing of projects which contribute to improving the competitiveness of the various regions in areas such as: departmental road plans, mass transport systems, 96 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR the construction and extension of oil pipelines, the transport and distribution of gas for home use, the construction and improvement of water supply and sewerage networks, social housing and improvements to infrastructure for education and health, among others. Findeter has made a strong contribution to the development of a programme for 100,000 homes, to technical consultancy in the identiication and formulation of social housing projects, which was given to close to 800 local leaders and over 2,500 people. Technical assistance has been provided for work contracts and auditing to 38 projects, to the value of $390 billion, beneiting almost 3 million Colombians. Findeter has become a signiicant partner in the delivery of sustainable development and its easily accessible sustainability report is a major factor in its transparency and accountability requirements. 6.4 South African State-Owned Financial Institutions State-owned South African companies are governed by the Public Finance Management Act, the Municipal Finance and Management Act as well as the Companies Act. Financial sector state-owned entities, including lending and investment organizations such as the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), the Land Bank, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) are also subject to additional legislation. The GEPF is a signatory to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the Code for Responsible Investment in South Africa (CRISA). State-owned companies are required to deliver comprehensive audited annual reports to the relevant minister. The reporting requirements do not specify the production of a sustainability report, but cover many of the same elements in addition to comprehensive inancial and governance content. The Companies Act requires companies to have a social and ethics committee in place that must, amongst other responsibilities, monitor the company’s activities with regard to the UN Global Compact principles, the OECD recommendations on corruption, the Employment Equity Act and the BroadBased Black Economic Empowerment Act. Therefore, although there is no speciic regulatory or legal requirement to 97 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR produce an annual sustainability report, all of the key state-owned inancial sector companies do produce signiicant, readily available integrated reports as envisaged by the voluntary King Code on Corporate Governance. These reports also meet most of the key expectations of inancial sector sustainability reports. The integrated annual reports include material ESG issues as well as a requirement to report on the outcomes of their activities. The IDC also publishes a GRI index. The Public Investment Corporation, the principal vehicle for government investments, including those on behalf of the GEPF, is a signatory to the PRI, the UN Global Compact and CRISA. It has recently voluntarily engaged with the CDP (previously the Carbon Disclosure Project). The PIC publishes, for example, its proxy voting record in relation to its major listed investments as well as the reasons for its voting decisions. This is a commitment under CRISA, rather than a speciic regulatory requirement. The PIC has assets of R1.81 trillion (around US$119 billion) under management. It is a major investor in South Africa and uses its equity stake to promote the diversity transformation of the management and ownership demographics of companies as well as promoting and investing in small business and infrastructure development. 6.5 Conclusion Governments can demonstrate leadership by regulating the transparency disclosures of state-owned inancial services providers. These disclosures also improve accountability and governance by the State in the disbursement of tax-payers’ money. 98 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 7. Other Voluntary Disclosure Initiatives The number of voluntary codes requiring disclosure of key performance information and details of underlying processes and methodologies, has increased signiicantly in recent years, both in terms of the number of codes and their rapid adoption. Where they exist and cover critical areas of interest, they may be effective forerunners of policy and regulation. They are devised by scientiically and technologically knowledgeable groups who seek to make reporting easier and relevant. The involvement of multiple stakeholders in their elaboration processes tends to add credibility and ensure uptake. In addition, their methods of promptly disclosing key indings and trends ensures relevance and an ability to update the requirements on a regular basis. Typically, however, these are underfunded and collaboration might work for both the NGOs that drive them and the governments wishing to promote material disclosure. 7.1 CDP The CDP works with market forces (including shareholders, customers and governments) to improve the management of environmental risk through the measurement and disclosure of environmental information. It has successfully encouraged disclosure by thousands of companies and cities worldwide and it makes information available for business, investment and policy decisionmaking. It engages 822 institutional investors holding US $95 trillion of assets.76 The CDP claims to hold “the largest collection globally of self-reported climate change, water and forest-risk data”77. It aims to enable stakeholders, such as companies, investors and cities, enhance risk mitigation and make investment decisions that advance sustainable development. Other projects address issues such as forests, water disclosure and supply chain environmental risk. Many view the CDP as a pre-requisite for change but not necessarily a driver 76 www.cdp.net http://www.cdp.net/en-Us/Pages/about-Us.aspx 77 www.cdp.net http://www.cdp.net/en-Us/Pages/about-Us.aspx 99 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR of change. There is no question that disclosure of corporate carbon emissions has increased signiicantly in quality and quantity since the CDP’s inception. Questions remain, however, about whether the disclosure is leading to change and how much reliance can be placed on self-reported data. 7.2 Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP) The objective of the Asset Owners Disclosure Project78 is to protect long-term investment, such as retirement savings, from the risks associated with climate change79 by improving disclosure and industry best practice. The AODP is currently only focused on climate change and the potential risks faced by pension funds if they do not take climate change risk into account when providing for the long term inancial needs of pension holders in a rapidly changing world. One thousand of the world’s largest pension funds presently manage an excess of US$52 trillion, however, the amount invested in lowcarbon assets is of less than 2% of this igure.80 The AODP enables stakeholders, members and the public to differentiate between asset owners, such as pension funds, who are managing the longterm risks in their portfolios that are associated with climate change, and those who are not. To that end, it measures how asset owners are managing the challenge in terms of rapidity and effectiveness and drives a better management of climate change-related risks in their investment portfolios. The principle underpinning the AODP is that it is an asset owner’s core business to prove that it has assessed a risk and then decided to mitigate it or carry it. This is particularly important as the funds provide for the long-term future of millions of people through their pension savings. The AODP requires asset owners to disclose how they mitigate that risk through the four portfolio mitigation options of avoidance, insurance, diversiication and hedging. In addition, they have a responsibility to demonstrate the impacts of mitigation and the potential repercussions in case the risk manifests itself. The AODP’s experience is that disclosure frequently highlights that risk is not being managed. The impact of the AODP has been positive with many asset owners switching their capital to cleaner investments in order to mitigate climate change risk. The AODP seeks input into its annual analysis from the relevant asset owners but where none is provided, the pension fund is assessed on publically available information. 78 www.aodproject.net 79 http://aodproject.net/about-us/our-objectives/ 80 DB Climate Change Advisors, January 2010 100 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 7.3 Equator Principles The Equator Principles (EP) is a risk management framework for inancial institutions to identify, evaluate and manage social and environmental risk in projects81. It is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due diligence to support responsible risk decision-making. Signatories are required to disclose application information. The EP apply globally, to all industry sectors and to four inancial products, above certain thresholds: 1. Project Finance Advisory Services; 2. Project Finance; 3. Project-Related Corporate Loans; and 4. Bridge Loans To date, 84 Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFIs) in 35 countries have embraced the EP. Together, they account for more than 70% of international project inance debt in emerging economies82. EPFIs apply the EP to their internal policies in the environmental and social areas, as well as in their standards and procedures for inancing projects. They also commit to reporting on EP implementation. Projects that are not EP compliant will not receive inancing or corporate loans by EPFIs. EPFIs also apply the EP to an existing project in cases where its expansion or upgrading may cause considerable social and environmental risks and impacts, or signiicantly modify the nature or intensity of an existing impact. One of the EP successes is in agreeing the IFC Performance Standards as a common framework for adjudicating risk and performance. This overcomes the challenge of operating in multiple jurisdictions where legislation is not always current or fully implemented. EP banks are able to negotiate with other parties participating in the large and complex deals that typically fall within the deinitions to use the IFC Performance Standards. 81 www.equator-principles.com 82 http://www.equator-principles.com/index.php/members-reporting 101 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 7.4 World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) In a November 2015 announcement, the WFE83 released its guidance to member exchanges on the incorporation of disclosure around 34 key performance indicators. These include energy consumption, water management, CEO pay ratios, gender diversity, human rights, child and forced labour, temporary worker rates, corruption and anti-bribery, tax transparency and other issues. WFE offered exchanges guidance on rolling out enhanced sustainability disclosure and a means of meeting commitments to the UN’s Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative84. The WFE represents 64 public stock, futures and options exchanges as well as Central Clearing Parties (CCPs). These cover over 44,000 companies – representing a US$64 trillion market capitalization and a trading value of US$76 trillion list on WFE exchanges – equivalent to more than 75% of the global GDP. The guidance is provided for voluntary adoption by exchanges or for adaptation to local market conditions. 7.5 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) The GRI85 was the pioneer in developing general sustainability reporting guidelines and sector speciic supplements and guidance. It remains the most widely used framework. Its modus operandi includes signiicant stakeholder consultation that encompasses business, governments, academia and civil society and experts. The GRI maintains a signiicant database of sustainability reports. 7.6 Conclusion Signiicant experience and expertise in developing indicators and process assessments exists within NGOs and private sector-led voluntary initiatives. By working with these initiatives, policy makers can build on and improve transparency and disclosure around key sustainability issues. Further, regular research of the outcomes resulting from these voluntary initiatives can assist policy makers in identifying and targeting gaps that currently exist. 83 http://www.world-exchanges.org 84 http://www.sseinitiative.org 85 http://globalreporting.org 102 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 8. List of Abbreviations ABBREVIATION MEANING € Symbol for Euro, the Currency of the European Union AAAA Addis Ababa Action Agenda Abrapp Brazilian Association of Closed Pension Funds AFA French Insurance Association AFEP French Association of Private Companies AFG French Association of Financial Management Anpid National Association of Investment Banks AODP Asset Owners Disclosure Project Apimec Association of Capital Markets Analysts and Investment Professionals ARAS Environmental and Social Risk Assessment (Colombia) ASRA Austrian Sustainability Reporting Awards AUM Assets Under Management BAWAG/Alliance Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft (Austria’s 4th largest bank) BBBEE Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment BM&BOVESPA Brazilian Stock Exchange BMLFUW Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management BVC Colombia Stock Exchange CCP’s Central Clearing Parties CDP Previous acronym for Carbon Disclosure Project. The organization is now simply CDP. CIES Employee Savings Label CISE ISE Governance Committee (Brazil) 103 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR ABBREVIATION MEANING COLEQTY Colombia Equity Index COLIR Colombian Index for Investor Relations and Sustainability Disclosure COP21 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) CRISA Code for Responsible Investment in South Africa CSR Corporate Social Responsibility DFIs Development Finance Institutions EP Equator Principles EPFI Equator Principles Financial Institutions – signatories to the EP principles ERAPF French Public Service Supplementary Pension Scheme ESG Environmental Social Governance EUROSIF European Sustainable Investment Forum FBF French Banking Federation FGV Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil) FFSA French Federation of Insurance Companies FIR Forum for Responsible Investment, also known as French SIF (Social Investment Forum) GoF47 Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 GRI Global Reporting Initiative GRI G3, G3.1, G4 Versions of the Global Reporting Initiative’s guidelines GVces Getulio Vargas’ Centre of Studies on Sustainability Ibase Brazilian Institute of Social And Economic Analysis IBGC Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance 104 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR ABBREVIATION MEANING IFC International Finance Corporation: private sector arm of the World Bank IIRC International Integrated Reporting Council ILO International Labour Organization Institut RSE Institute for Corporate Social Responsibility IR Integrated Reporting ISE Corporate Sustainability Index (Brazilian SRI Index) ISO 26000 International Standards Organization guidance standard on Corporate Social Responsibility JSE SRI Index Johannesburg Stock Exchange Socially Responsible Investment Index Label ISR French SRI Label Loi NRE French Law on New Economic Regulations MEDEF French Business Confederation MEEM French Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea NAP CSR National Action Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility NSTRAT Austrian Strategy for Sustainable Development NYSE New York Stock Exchange OeKB Austrian Central Securities Depository ÖGUT Austrian Society for Environment and Technology ORSE Observatory for Corporate Social Responsibility ÖSTRAT Austrian Federal and State Governments’ Sustainable Development Strategy PNBE Pensamento Nacional das Bases Empresariais (Brazilian association for entrepreneurial modernism and the re-democratisation of Brazil) PRI Principles for Responsible Investment 105 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR ABBREVIATION MEANING rfu Reinhard Friesenbichler Consulting Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 on the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit) SDGs Sustainable Development Goals SMEs Small and Medium Sized Enterprises SR Sustainability Reports/Reporting SRI Socially Responsible Investment TEEC Energy and Ecological Transition for Climate Label UCITS Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities UNEP United Nations Environment Programme / UN Environment UNGC United Nations Global Compact US$ Symbol for United States Dollars VBV Vorsorgekasse Austrian Provident Fund VKI Austrian Association for Consumer Information VÖIG Association of Austrian Investment Companies VÖNIX Vienna Stock Exchange Sustainability Index VRG Austrian Association of Investment and Risk Analysts WFE World Federation of Exchanges 106 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 9. Index of Tables, Figures and Graphs Tables Table 1: Key Industries within the Financial Services Sector...............................15 Table 2: General requirements of Article 224 and Article 173...........................47 Table 3: Disclosure of ESG integration in investment policy...........................48 Table 4: ISE Governance structures.....................................................................69 Table 5: ISE Questionnaire criteria........................................................................71 Table 6: SRI Index areas of measurement........................................................77 Table 7: Austrian comparison of reporting between investment Funds, Severance Pay Funds, Pension Funds..................................88 Figures & Graphs Framework for Policy Evaluation...........................................................................11 Figure 1: Sustainability reports per region...........................................................20 Figure 2: Reports per sector: G4..........................................................................20 Figure 3: Reports per sector: G3/3.1....................................................................21 Figure 4: Comparison of sector representation of GRI reports..........................21 Figure 5: ÖGUT Sustainability Scores...................................................................87 Boxes Box A: Article 173...................................................................................................53 Box B: South African pension fund changes........................................................56 Box C: SRI labels in France....................................................................................63 Box D: Austrian Sustainability Reporting Award (ASRA)....................................91 Appendix Appendix 1 Comparison of Approaches in GoF47 countries..........................108 Appendix 2 Tool for policy evaluation................................................................116 107 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR A.1. Comparison of Approaches in GoF47 countries POLICY OBJECTIVES REPORTING SPECS. All Austrian organizations independent of industry, size or type CSR National Action Plan addresses the issue of “Transparency and Credibility” as one of its ive ields of activities and includes targets on SRI. Voluntary Austrian Commercial Code Credit institutions and insurance companies; Large companies (≥ €20 million total assets, €40 million total sales or 250 employees) – Not explicit –Mandatory – §243(5) and 267(2) include requirements for non-inancial reporting; environmental and employee information which must be included in the management summary. –Compliance is ensured through the auditing of corporate accounts. ÖGUT sustainability certiications Severance Pay Funds and Pension Funds Support the severance pay funds and pension funds to communicate their leading role in SRI to institutional investors and the public. Voluntary ÖGUT Responsible Investment Standard Asset Management Companies Black list of problematic companies and nations applied to all assets of a company Voluntary POLICY APPLIES TO ÖSTRAT / NSTRAT AUSTRIA COUNTRY 108 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR MULTI STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION CHARACTERISTICS POLICY EFFECT(S) 22 social partners and civil servants from various ministries, public and academics participated. In terms of reporting it makes reference to the GRI framework. In terms of SRI it makes references to UNPRI, EUROSIF and the Austrian Ecolabel for Financial Products. – Marginal and rather ineffective in terms of sustainability reporting as no system has been adapted systematically by companies. –Active lobbying for a more precise deinition of §243 which did not succeed due to the opposition of economic representatives – No speciic list of indicators but there is a reference to the EU recommendations which includes a number of examples. – Not a wide implementation in the inancial sector. ÖGUT, experts, inancial service provider, consultants, ministry, labor union, Austrian consumers association and the sciences. – The assessment covers three areas: (a) principles and processes (b) portfolio (c) transparency, communication, engagement, documentation on SRI approach and implementation. ÖGUT, consultants and the inancial service. 109 – The publication of environmental and employee information is limited to related economic material issues leaving on a side materials for SD. – The objectives set for SRI have not been put into practice. – There are gaps in quality, quantity and materiality of the reports. – One of the most important driving factors of SRI in Austria: In 2015, eight out of nine severance pay funds participated in the certiication process. – Indirect impact on transparency. – Makes references to the Austrian Ecolabel for inancial products. First divestment standard in Austria with a potential broad effect, since the scope covers all inancial assets of a company. However, due to its recent implementation, no conclusion can be drawn at the moment. It is too early to tell as the standard was only implemented in 2015. It is however hoped that the instrument would be an important component for moving towards more sustainable capital markets. SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR AUSTRIA COUNTRY REPORTING SPECS. Pension funds (Voluntary) except Severance pay funds (Mandatory) and personal pension schemes – Not explicit – Mandatory – Report on ethical, ecologic and/or social criteria – Set of indicators not speciied Investment funds Provide customers with comparable information and promote a market change towards environmentally friendly products and services. APPLIES TO Pension Fund Act Austrian Ecolabel (UZ 49) Austrian Sustainability Reporting Award (ASRA) 110 POLICY OBJECTIVES POLICY Private sector, government sector, public sector and NGOs Support and increase quality and quantity of sustainability reports. – Voluntary – The reporting form is not speciied, but its guidelines contain information on the transparency requirements. – External auditors evaluate the document. Voluntary SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR MULTI STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION CHARACTERISTICS POLICY EFFECT(S) – SRI actors such as ÖGUT were part of the consultation of the text. Low implementation of the SRI methodology was partly due to a low demand. There is a big gap in the quality of information and sustainability reporting between the pension funds and severance pay funds. Pension funds do not achieve in their reporting the same depth and breadth as severance pay funds. Of the 14 pension funds, the seven corporate pension funds report very little relevant information. Only three of the remaining seven multi-company pension funds address sustainability on their websites. Unsurprisingly, the VBV-Pensionskasse AG, Valida Pension AG and Bonus Pensionkasse AG are organizationally linked to the three severance pay funds that are SRI-frontrunners in the ÖGUT certiication. – Three pillars: selection criteria, quality of analytical process and transparency. – 90% of the certiied funds apply the EUROSIF standard and nearly half of the new companies applying for the label introduce it. – SRI actors lobbied for a voluntary passage on SRI in the early stages of the “New Severance Payment Act”. This was not implemented due to low interest among Parliamentarians. However, the amendment of the Pension Fund Act, developed around the same time, included a requirement for SRI reporting. Experts, auditors of funds, inancial service provider, ÖGUT, economic chambers and NGOs – The transparency criteria is mandatory and cannot be compensated through higher ratings in the other two pillars. – Its documentation refers explicitly to the EUROSIFStandard categories and the Arista Quality Standard. Safeguarded through the partner that jointly support the ASRA and through the members of the jury – To evaluate the quality of reporting and its underlying process it deines four metatopics with 21 criteria. These are: (1) vision, strategy and materiality (2) internal process (3) reporting principles (4) performance – Makes reference to GRI and the IIRC. 111 – Constant increase in the number of funds. – Important driving factor for increased transparency and quality in the Austrian sustainability reports. – It has the most detailed approach to transparency compared to the other instruments that were analysed. SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR POLICY APPLIES TO Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE Top 40 of the issuers of the 200 most liquid shares on BM&BOVESPA that fulil the eligibility criteria COLOMBIA 112 POLICY OBJECTIVES – Build an objective tool to compare the performance of listed companies, highlighting those committed to SD and differentiate them for investors with other interests, such as short-term inancial return. – Encourage the launch of new SRI funds, becoming a benchmark for their performance comparison. BRAZIL COUNTRY Article 96 of Law 1328 of 2009 Financial and insurance system, and the security market – Promote the adoption and development of voluntary social responsibility activities. – Create a tool to disclose the impact of CSR activities. REPORTING SPECS. – Voluntary – Sustainability performance assessment through a questionnaire structured on seven dimensions: General, Nature of Product, Climate Change, EconomicFinancial, Corporate Governance, and Social and Environmental responsibility – Mandatory – Principlesbased – Establishes periodicity, form and disclosure channels SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR MULTI STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION – Joint effort of Bovespa Operations Superintendent, the creators of Ethical fund (ABN Amro Real SRI fund), the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance, the Center for Sustainability Studies of the Getulio Vargas Foundation and the Ethos Institute, among others. – The most debated topics were sector exclusions and the triple bottom line (Social, Environmental and Economic dimensions). CHARACTERISTICS – The questionnaire makes references to national and international standards and initiatives (e.g. Brazilian Central Bank resolution on S&E policies, the protocol verde, GRI and CDP). – The ISE methodology is based on company performance, a basic questionnaire, and an assessment of documents submitted to support the information provided. – The questionnaire includes a question about an authorization to disclose the company’s answers on the ISE website, which is worth 15 points, having the highest score among all. – There is dificulty in using the same questionnaire to assess companies of different economic sectors. Consultation with experts and the public in the drafting of the bill, – The use of sustainability reports to comply with the law is common and not limited to its requirements. Environmental, social and human rights issues are reported. – A survey of 204 companies showed that 88% complied with the requirements. 113 POLICY EFFECT(S) – It serves as a reference guide for initiating sustainability practices as well as for their continuous improvement even for companies that were never part of the index. – Following the introduction of the ISE, there was a rapid shift to the creation of new SRI funds, but most of them have remained relatively small. – Limited success in serving as a benchmark for larger investors, as it has a relatively small number of member companies. Positive and effective impact on the way institutions have been working to establish CSR policies and prepare their reports. SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR SOUTH AFRICA FRANCE COUNTRY 114 APPLIES TO POLICY OBJECTIVES Article 224 of the Law N° 2010788 of 12 July 2010 and Article 173 Portfolio managers – Promote Sustainable Responsible Investment via employee savings. Article 173 of the Law N° 2015992 of 17 August 2015 on Energy Transition for the Green Growth Institutional Investors SRI index Issuers Companies listed on the JSE and in the FTSE Russell/JSE All share index POLICY – Requires reporting of the ESG criteria in the investment policy and reporting of SRI UCITS. – Greater transparency and contribution to climate change. REPORTING SPECS, – Mandatory – Principles-based – Guidance Material is provided by the Forum for Responsible Investment (FIR). – Requires reporting in the annual report and in the company’s website. – Mandatory – Principles-based – Extend the scope of Article 224 to institutional investors. – Reporting of indirect emissions and stress tests. – Provide a tool for a broad holistic assessment of company policies and practices, identifying those that integrate the principles of the triple bottom line and good governance in their business activities. – Serve as a facilitation vehicle for responsible investment and contribute to the development of responsible business practices. – Voluntary – Speciic indicators subject to “apply or explain”. – Integrated reporting. – Guidance Material is provided by JSE. – Third party veriication is encouraged through the kings code. SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR MULTI STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION – Extensive process including state, employers and employers (unions) representatives, local authorities and NGOs. CHARACTERISTICS POLICY EFFECT(S) The policy does not have any built-in compliance mechanisms and there are no penalties or sanctions associated in case of noncompliance. The policy was evaluated one year after entering into force. The disclosure rate was satisfactory but showed that there was room for improvement which led to Article 173. – First legislation in the world requiring reporting the portfolio’s indirect emissions. Not implemented yet. – Working groups, operational committees and a public consultation. N/A – It integrates climate risks in the inancial risks. Participants of the JSE 115 – The index includes speciic reporting requirements in terms of the content and quantity of indicators. It varies across sectors depending on its “impact classiication”. – SRI index is used as reporting benchmark in some companies. – JSE and FTSE Russell are partners in improving the index ESG indicators. This new version contains speciic references to various initiatives such as the UN Global Compact, the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, various sector-speciic initiatives and the UN Business Principles on Human Rights. – New stakeholder groups such as NGOs, consulting groups and others are becoming more interested in ESG topics. – Two reporting awards are based on the SRI index. SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR A.2. Tool for Policy Evaluation POLICY EVOLUTION Existing policy environment, ie. other supporting CSR policy requirements CONTEXT National drivers and pressures for increased transparency Main stakeholders involved in consultation PROCESS Negotiation of policy content (main points contested, how resolved) OTHER REVELANT INPUTS --- REFERENCES --- 116 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR GUIDANCE Describe the national background of trends and debates from which the reporting policy emerged. Out-line the CSR-related policies in place that existed before the devel-opment / implementation of the reporting policy. If the policy has been adopted relatively recently or is currently being developed, de-scribe the current context. If the policy has been in place for several years, describe the historical con-text. Include policies run by other regulatory institutions. List as bullet points the key partic-ipants and their main position(s) on proposed legislation (on aspects or as a whole). Describe briely the main issues debated during the policy’s devel-opment e.g. in parliament or through public consultation. You may include the scope, application, terminology, expected costs, en-forcement mechanisms etc. Who was advocating? Was a compro-mise reached between key stake-holders? --- 117 POSSIBLE SOURCES – GRI’s ‘Carrots and Sticks’ publication – Government websites – Other national CSR websites – Google search for academic studies, surveys and other research – Google search for Government websites – Other national CSR websites – Google search for written submissions to policy-makers – Google search for academic studies, surveys and other research --- SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR POLICY DESIGN OBJECTIVES Clarity of need for policy and its goal Who does the policy apply to? APPLICABILITY Link to other corporate reporting legislations (if any) SCOPE AND REQUIREMENTS 118 Scope of defined issues to be reported on SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR GUIDANCE Does the policy text or related documents clearly describe why the policy is needed and its objectives? POSSIBLE SOURCES – Policy text and related guidance documents issued by the responsible ministry or any other au-thoritative source (e.g. business association or chamber of commerce). List the stated scope of intended subjects or inancial institutions, including any thresholds for inclusion (e.g. number of employees, revenues, listed companies, institutional investors, portfolio managers). Does the policy text cross-reference any other reporting legislation, e.g. annual i-nancial or environmental reporting re-quirements? If so, does this have an im-pact on the policy’s applicability? Consider e.g. if the threshold for being subjected to the sustainability reporting legislation is deined by other legislation, or whether it was created to speciically regulate sus-tainability reporting in the inancial sector. List the stated scope of subject matters to be addressed in the reporting (qualitatively and/or quantitatively). Is the scope deined in precise and unambiguous terms or is it general and potentially vague? Does it contain speciic disclosure requirements for certain inancial products/services? Consider for instance how detailed the compliance of the ESG criteria must be in investment decisions. The focus here is ‘what must reporters report on and how they should report’ – the speciied scope could for example be a broad sustainability policy or it could be speciic ESG/CSR topics that is compiled following an international framework (SASB, GRI). 119 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR POLICY DESIGN Requirements for the compilation and publication of reporting Level of prescriptiveness SCOPE AND REQUIREMENTS Level of complexity 120 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR GUIDANCE Describe any requirements (contained in the policy or in related guidance) for how a reporter must/should compile their account and how it must be published Comment on the level of prescriptiveness of the legislation, i.e. to what extent does the text specify exactly the conditions for compliance and how this should be achieved. The focus here is ‘what does the policy explicitly require reporters to do to be in compliance, beyond addressing any deined sustainability topics’. This could for instance be prescriptions on where the information must be published, its duration, the period and format. POSSIBLE SOURCES – Policy text and related guidance documents issued by the responsible ministry or any other au-thoritative source (e.g. business association or chamber of commerce). Comment on the level of complexity of the legislation, i.e. to what extent does the text provide clear, short and simple instructions or guidance. Consider if it is complex because it is amending or repealing previous legislations. Consider if the volume and/ or quality of the text is a barrier to the user’s experience of the legislation – e.g. consider if there is extensive use of legal and technical terms (potentially leading to a perception of disproportionate complexity). Consider if the text introduces poorlydeined, rarely-used or similar-looking concepts. Consider if the text contains long sentences and sections that can complicate its comprehension, including if the text irst contains a rule and then a lengthy list of exceptions or special circumstances. Consider if there are cross-references to other reporting legislation that may increase complexity for the reader. 121 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR POLICY DESIGN REPORTING APPROACH Rules-based or principles-based (i.e. comply or explain) INCENTIVES AND PENALTIES Compliance mechanisms and verification International frameworks REFERENCES Regional and/or transnational policies National policies OTHER RELEVANT INPUT --- REFERENCES --- 122 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR GUIDANCE POSSIBLE SOURCES Does the text comprise a set of detailed prescriptive rules, or does it present more high-level, broadly stated principles to deine the standards reporters must respect for the overall elaboration of the report? – Policy text and related guidance documents issued by the responsible ministry or any other au-thoritative source (e.g. business association or chamber of commerce). Does the policy have any built-in mechanisms to ensure compliance? Describe any incentives as well as any penalties or sanctions for noncompliance. (e.g. possibility of being removed from an index). – Other related policies, if relevant. Does the legislation and/or any accompa-nying guidance make reference to iwnterna-tional frameworks for sustainability / CSR, e.g. UN Global Compact, GRI, OECD etc.? The reference may be explicit or im-plicit, and it may be in the actual policy or in related guidance. Does the legislation and/or any accompa-nying guidance make reference to any re-gional and/or transnational policy or di-rective? The reference may be explicit or implicit, and it may be in the actual policy or in related guidance. Does the legislation and/or any accompanying guidance make reference to any national policy or instrument relating to sustainability / CSR / corporate governance / environmental / health and safety / corruption etc.? ----- 123 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR POLICY MONITORING INTERPRETATION AND RESPONSE Reporters’ responses in annual reporting (minimum compliance vs comprehensive) EFFECT (IMPACT) OF POLICY ON REPORTING What has been the effect (impact) of policy on reporting? 124 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR GUIDANCE POSSIBLE SOURCES Collect evidence from different sources about how reporters have responded in practice e.g. contact local auditors or con-sultants who may have reviewed many reports and ask for their assessment. – Websites (government, ministerial etc.) Describe the overall effect (estimated or known through concrete evidence) of the policy on sustainability reporting. For countries where the policy is relatively recent, focus on interpretation and compliance. For countries where the policy has been in place for several years, focus on beyond-compliance reporting and evidence of integration into corporate management. For illustrative purposes, consider: – whether there is evidence of modiied reporting practices and content in accordance with policy requirements – whether reported information appears to be used for corporate management decisions (e.g. investment/ divestment decisions, improved human resources management, improved natural resources use, improved relationships to local communities, etc) – Local auditors – Government websites – Other national CSR websites or authoritative sources (e.g. business association or chamber of commerce) – Google search for academic studies, surveys and other research – whether reported information appears to be used by external stakeholders (e.g. regulator, rating agencies, investees, consumer associations, etc) – whether additional external stakeholders have developed as a result of the introduction of said policy (monitoring groups/ watchdogs, rating agencies, consulting irms, specialized software companies, NGOs, etc) – indirect effects (development of awards, indexes, labels, additional voluntary initiatives, etc) – whether it opened the debate for initiatives applying to speciic types of inancial institutions/services – whether there is an increase in the range of inancial products including ESG criteria – whether the policy has inspired other regulatory institutions to adopt ESG reporting policies 125 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR POLICY MONITORING Assess the policy against its objectives (internal effectiveness) AMBITION AND REALISM OF POLICY (SUCCESS) Assess the policy against international expectations / practice / norms (external) OTHER RELEVANT INPUT --- REFERENCES --- 126 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR GUIDANCE POSSIBLE SOURCES Evaluate the overall ambition and success of the policy. Consider whether there is suficient evidence to identify causality between the policy and the described impact. Consider if the policy has had any unintended effects (both positive and negative). For illustrative purposes, consider for example: – Government websites – whether the number of reporting inancial institutions has increased after policy implementation (if applicable to the said policy’s objectives) – whether the quality and/or quantity of reported information has increased (if applicable to the said policy’s objectives) – whether external stakeholders can conirm increased transparency by reporting inancial institutions – Other national CSR websites or authoritative sources (e.g. business association or chamber of commerce) – Google search for academic studies, surveys and other research Evaluate the policy in the context of international good practice. Considering the responses given above: – How would you summarise the extent to which the policy lives up to the international ‘good practice’ policy elements outline in this framework? – How closely does this policy align with international developments and current expectations around sustainability reporting in the inancial sector? – Where a policy is not yet fully formulated or implemented, does it show promise of alignment with international good practice? --- --- 127 SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR About the Economy Division of UN Environment Set up in 1975, three years after UN Environment began, the Economy Division provides solutions to decision-makers and helps change the business environment by ofering platforms for multistakeholder dialogue and cooperation, innovative policy options, pilot projects and creative market mechanisms to improve the quality of the environment and the well-being of citizens. Within UN Environment, the Economy Division has the mandate of delivering on environmental sustainability through technology, industry and economic policy by addressing environmental issues at global and regional levels, providing leadership and encouraging partnerships, and by informing and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. The Division plays a leading role in three of UN Environment’s seven strategic priorities, namely in climate change, chemicals and waste, and resource eiciency. The Office of the Director, located in Paris, coordinates activities through: > The Chemicals and Waste Branch (Geneva, Paris and Osaka), which catalyses global actions to bring about the sound management of chemicals, the improvement of chemical safety and the management of waste. > The International Environmental Technology Centre - IETC (Osaka) promotes the collection and dissemination of knowledge on Environmentally Sound Technologies with a focus on waste management. The broad objective is to enhance the understanding of converting waste into a resource and thus reduce impacts on human health and the environment (land, water and air). > OzonAction (Paris) supports the phase-out of ozone depleting substances in developing countries and countries with economies in transition to ensure implementation of the Montreal Protocol. > The Economy and Trade Branch (Geneva), which helps countries to integrate environmental considerations into economic and trade policies, and works with the inance sector to incorporate sustainable development policies. This branch is also charged with producing green economy reports. > The Energy, Climate, and Technology (Paris, Nairobi, and Copenhagen), which fosters energy and transport policies for sustainable development and encourages investment in renewable energy and energy eiciency. > The Sustainable Lifestyles, Cities and Industry Branch (Paris), which delivers support to the shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns as a core contribution to sustainable development. The Economy Division works with many partners (other UN agencies and programmes, international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations, business, industry, the media and the public) to raise awareness, improve the transfer of knowledge and information, foster technological cooperation and implement international conventions and agreements. For more information, see www.unep.org/dtie United Nations Environment Programme P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi 00100, Kenya Tel: +254-(0)20-762 1234 Fax: +254-(0)20-762 3927 Email: [email protected] Web: www.unep.org This publication builds upon the work developed by the GoF47 for Evaluating Public Policies in Corporate Sustainability Reporting, with a speciic focus on the inancial sector. It provides an overview of international (mainly intergovernmental) initiatives in the ield of inancial sector transparency, before moving to the description and evaluation of public policies and other initiatives on sustainability reporting in the inancial sector in 7 GoF47 countries (Austria, Brazil, Colombia, France, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland), illustrated by best practice examples of collaboration between government and inancial institutions. Building on the analysis, it provides recommendations to policy-makers to enhance inancial sector transparency, thus directly contributing to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the SDGs.