At the beginning of the week, the European Commission officially adopted the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), but not without significantly easing the standards compared to the original proposal from its advisory body on accounting rules, EFRAG.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the GIIN published the third volume of its 4-part 2023 GIINsights, this one focusing on impact measurement and management in practice. Among other insights, the report displays statistics on reporting methods and frequency and shows that less than half of these investors are audited either internally or externally.
Also in the US, BlackRock appointed Amin Hassan Ali Nasser, President and CEO of the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) to replace Bader M. Alsaad, Director General and Chairman of the Board of the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development, raising questions about the giant manager’s commitment to net zero.
On the global level and with a cautious optimism, we noted that Earth Overshoot Day was measured this year later than last year. The slowdown in the Earth’s resource consumption is far from fast enough, but at least the momentum seems to be shifting.
Last but not least we read an interesting report by the UN Environmental Programme which reveals that climate litigations have more than doubled in five years, as people and organisations increasingly turn to courts to combat the climate crisis given the current insufficiencies of climate policies.
