Company transparency



Every year, companies publish accounts and reports, to talk about what they have done in the past year, the events that have shaped the business, and what is likely to happen in the future.  Increasingly, the reports of the largest companies include long sections discussing environmental and social matters, and the various initiatives companies have put in place to do right by the world.  Often this information even makes up entire separate ‘sustainability’ or ‘CSR’ reports.

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 photo:  jez  coulson/jumblejet

UK company law: digging deeper

Company law in the UK governs how UK-based companies report on their impacts on the environment and people all across the globe.

In 2010 ClientEarth published a major study of the UK law that governs company reporting on environmental and social issues, looking in particular at the extractive industries in practice.

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photo:  lotyloty

Testing the law and the regulator

Laws are meaningless unless they are implemented and enforced.  Under the Companies Act 2006, there is a regulator that is responsible for making sure that company reports comply with the law – the Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP).  No-one other than the FRRP and the government are able to take a company to court for failing to comply with the law in their reports.

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photo:  geekzter

The extractive industries: a particular concern

The extractive industries – whether mining, oil and gas, or other – have significant environmental and social impacts.  Their business is to extract natural resources – to find deposits in the Earth, remove them, process them, and put them to use for human beings’ purposes.  These processes necessarily involve big environmental and social impacts.

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photo:  trodel

Reform in the UK: the Operating and Financial Review

In June 2010, the UK government announced that it would reform the law governing company reporting.

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