International Federation for the Economy for the Common Good e. V.
ECG
ECG is an economic model, which makes the Common Good, a good life for everyone on a healthy planet, its primary goal and purpose.
ID: 339093641078-19
Lobbying Activity
Response to Postponement of deadlines within the Accounting Directive for the adoption of certain ESRS
18 Dec 2023
The Economy for the Common Good (ECG) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the European Commission´s (EC) proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2013/34/EU (Accounting Directive) referred to above, regarding the adoption date of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) for undertakings active in certain sectors and for certain third-country undertakings. The ECG believes that the European Commission's proposal to postpone the adoption of sector-specific standards on CSRD is clearly not expedient, as it will do more harm than good to the competitiveness and future viability of European companies. The same applies to the justification that this should be done to reduce the reporting burden on companies. If this were the case, one would have to assume that the EC expects that companies without industry-specific standards would take advantage of this to report less than required by law. According to the CSRD, companies must report all material impacts risks and opportunities (IROs), either in accordance with the sector-agnostic ESRS or as company-specific disclosures, as long as the sector-specific standards are missing. However, this means that the burden on companies will increase because, without sector-specific standards, they will have to develop the necessary know-how for the required reporting themselves. This in turn will lead to a lack of comparability and make it more difficult for investors, to make informed decisions and leave the door open for greenwashing. It will also make life much more difficult for auditors, as they will lack the basis for auditing company reports with regard to sector-specific material IROs. The ECG therefore strongly recommends that the EC follows the same approach as for the EU Taxonomy and launches the sector-specific standards for the high-risk sectors as soon as possible. Especially as these have already been largely developed by EFRAG for several of these sectors (i.e. oil and gas, mining, road transport and textiles) and can be made available at short notice. For the remaining high-risk sectors (including the financial sector), we recommend reprioritizing EFRAG's mandate so that these can be addressed as soon as possible and developed in 2024/25.
Read full responseMeeting with Heidi Hautala (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and Human Rights Watch
15 Nov 2022 · Due Diligence
Response to Sustainable corporate governance
23 May 2022
Please find attached the feedback of the Economy for the Common Good to the European Commission's proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
Read full responseMeeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and
8 Nov 2021 · Sustainable Corporate Governance
Response to Revision of Non-Financial Reporting Directive
14 Jul 2021
The Economy for the Common Good (ECG) movement strongly supports the European Commission's initiative to improve sustainability impact reporting in the European Union.
ECG is a social movement advocating for a future-fit economic model which is beneficial to all stakeholders of an organisation: employees, suppliers, customers, business partners, the local community and society at large, as well as the planet and future generations. It is a model which puts the Common Good, meaning the well-being of the people and the respect for all life, as its primary goal and purpose.
The Commission proposal for a CSRD Directive is a good basis and can be further improved by the European Parliament and Member States to make a significant contribution to better sustainability reporting.
In the attached paper, we explain why we would like to see the following changes to the proposal:
1. Sustainability reporting should be extended to all companies which fall under the obligation of financial reporting.
2. Social and ecological standards need to be defined by co-legislators using the most ambitious existing frameworks, supported by a newly established ESRAG with experts from social and natural sciences as well as representatives from NGOs and reporting framework developers.
3. The ECG Matrix and reporting framework should be used as a template for future mandatory reporting standards.
4. Sustainability reporting must lead to quantified, comparable results that are made visible to consumers, investors and the general public on products, websites and in company registers.
5. Sustainability reporting must lead to quantified, comparable results that are externally audited with reasonable assurance.
6. Policy-makers should consider linking legal incentives to corporate sustainability performance, in order to use market forces for promoting society’s goals and values, e.g. in the field of (public) procurement, economic promotion or taxes.
Read full response