A claim against one of the UK’s largest water companies for allegedly misleading regulators about the number of times it discharged sewage into waterways has been brought in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) on behalf of the company’s eight million customers. It is the first time the “opt out” collective action regime established by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 has been used to bring an environmental claim and marks a significant development in the ESG…
With a growing trend toward taking more ESG measures, some companies are at risk of lawsuits from consumers involving plastic packaging. Here are some best practices boards should know about to mitigate the risk of litigation. In a recent trend, citizen advocates and environmental groups have been filing lawsuits asserting novel theories against major companies that use or rely on plastic, even if the companies do not produce plastic products or are not involved in…
In brief ESG is an acronym for environment, social and (corporate) governance – factors considered originally (and separately) to be a measure of an organisation’s corporate social responsibility, and which are becoming increasingly important in determining its financial and general success. ESG encapsulates a broad range of issues including (but by no means limited to) sustainability, corporate ethics, human rights, social good, climate change and corporate culture. Why is ESG important? The broadness of the…
ESG (environment, social and corporate governance) issues, including human rights, have increasingly become a board level concern as the trend towards stakeholder capitalism and regulatory intervention on the topic has grown. Actions to impose statutory responsibilities on directors, to introduce programmes on specific issues (such as forced labour and conflict minerals), to mandate disclosure and transparency, and to threaten the corporate licence to operate through sanctions or restrictions on procurement, have all contributed to an…