29 Amendments of Lara WOLTERS related to 2020/2137(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
- having regard to the 2018 IPCC Special report on 1.5 degrees1a __________________ 1a https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary- for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report- on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by- governments/
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 b (new)
Citation 6 b (new)
- having regard to the Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 (‘The European Climate Law’)1b __________________ 1b COM(2020)0080
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 c (new)
Citation 6 c (new)
- having regard to Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases and repealing Regulation (EC)No 842/2006,
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas in a corporate context, a sustainability approach implies that the interest of different stakeholders in the company, including trade unions and workers representatives are duly taken into consideration, as well as the risks a company is exposed to, including general societal and environmental concerns, are duly taken into consideration;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the multiple international initiatives promoting sustainable corporate governance remain soft law only; whereas the study commissioned by the Commission on director’s duties and sustainable corporate governance highlights the problems associated with short-termism as well as the fact that the EU is not on track to meet its own sustainability commitments if companies do not incorporate long-term interests; underlines that the study clearly points towards the need for EU legislation in this regard.
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas stakeholders have often expressed that the non-financial information provided by companies pursuant to the NFRD is insufficient, unreliable and not comparable; whereas disclosure of more complete and reliable information is necessary so that companies can be held accountable for their potential adverse impacts on climate, the environment and society;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas companies’ directors have the legal and statutory duty to act in the interest of the company; whereasnotes that this duty has been subject to different interpretations in different jurisdictions, and that what is considered to be “the interest” of a company should incorporate the interests of stakeholders as well as wider societal interests; whereas a narrow interpretation of this duty wit with an excessive focus on short-term profit maximisation has an adverse impact on companies’ long-term performances and on sustainability, and therefore may be to the detriment of shareholders’ interest;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas in recent occasions however, shareholders have proposed environmental resolutions which have not been backed by companies, including the notable example of BlackRock which supported just 6 per cent of environmental proposals filed by shareholders despite strong public commitments to sustainability;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas in order to make corporate governance in the Union more sustainable, transparent and accountable, the Commission should come forward with proposals to review the non-financial reporting directive and should introduce separate new legislation on due diligence and director’s duties.
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Reiterates its call for an enlargement of the scope of the NRFRD to cover all listed and non-listed large undertakings established or operating in the Union territory, as defined in Article 3(4) of the Accounting Directive; invites the Commission to identify high-risk sectors of economic activity with a significant impact on sustainability matters that could justify the inclusion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in those sectors, within the scope of the NFRD; stresses that a review of the NFRD is also needed to give financial market participants access to relevant data in order to carry out the obligations of the Disclosure Regulation.
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that the concept of environmental matters in the NFRD should be interpreted in line with the Taxonomy Regulation; stresses that the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures should be applied; considers it equally important to define with precision the other sustainability matters to which the Directive refers, such as the concepts of social and employee matters, respect for human rights and anti-corruption and bribery;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that the definition of materiality should include the issues that affect long-termurgently be revised to include any relevant environmental, human rights and governance impacts to society as a whole, beyond value creation and matters beyond the purely financial performance of companies; considers that the assessment of materiality should be carried out through a robust multi-stakeholder involvement process;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Observes that the NFRD gives companies within its scope significant flexibility to disclose relevant information in the way they consider most useful; notes that companies may currently rely, at their discretion, on a number of different frameworks; considers it necessary to set up a comprehensive EU legislative framework covering the full set of sustainability issues relevant for a comprehensive non-financial reporting; highlights, in this regard, that the EU legislative framework should ensure that the disclosures are clear, balanced, understandable, comparable among companies within a sector, verifiable and objective; stresses that this frameworke legislation should include, where relevant, mandatory sector-specific standards; welcomes, in this regard, the Commission’s commitment to supporting a process to develop EU non- financial reporting standards18 ; stresses that specific mandatory reporting obligations and standards should be set in the NFRD review, with appropriate democratic overview and representation of public interests, including trade unions and civil society organisations; __________________ 18 Remarks by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis at the Conference on implementing the European Green Deal: Financing the Transition, 28 January2020 (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorn er/detail/en/speech_20_139)
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses the need to remove the exemption in NFRD that allows the non- financial statement to be reported outside the management report, so that information is presented in a single integrated annual management report;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that the NFRD excludes non- financial statements from the requirement of content assurance to which financial statements of companies are otherwise subject; considers that non-financial statements should be subject to a mandatory audit, depending on the size and field of activity of the company concerned; considers that the assurance service provider, subject to requirements of objectivity and independence, should conduct their audit in accordance with the future EU framework; stresses in this light the need to address the inherent wrong incentives in statutory auditing via a review of the Statutory Audit Directive; upholds that this is also an opportunity to address the quasi monopoly of the ‘Big Four’ accountancy companies that audit the largest listed companies;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Highlights that workers' representatives should be involved in defining the process for reporting non- financial information and in verifying information, in particular regarding social sustainability goals and issues related to the supply production chain, including outsourcing and subcontracting.
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. UStresses the importance of diversity in inclusiveness in companies; urges the Council to initiate without delay negotiations with Parliament on the proposal for a Directive on improving the gender balance among non- executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures (COM(2012)0614) (‘the Women on Boards Proposal’) , which sets out to put an end to the pervasive imbalance between women and men at the highest-levels of decision-making in companies, which is in line with the principles of diversity and inclusiveness and leads to better business performance;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes the major role of directors in defining a company’'s strategy and overseeing its operations; considers that directors should haveduty to act in the interest of the company should be understood as a duty to integrate long-term interests and sustainability risks, impacts, opportunities and dependencies in the overall strategy of the company;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Underlines the need for more workers’ involvement in company decision-making processes to better integrate the long-term objectives and social and environmental impacts of a company; highlights the need to strengthen the involvement of employees, including in takeover bids, and, in line with their industrial relations traditions and employee practices, in electing board representatives;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls for a new framework on workers’ information, consultation and board-level representation to be established for European company forms and companies making use of EU instruments for company mobility and for a reform of the EWC Directive, in order to ensure a level-playing field and to improve workers’ information, consultation and participation
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to present a legislative proposal to ensuringe that directors’ duties cannot be misunderstood as amounting to the short-term maximisation of shareholder value, but must include the long-term interest of the company and society, as well that of workers and other stakeholders. The legislative proposal should also ensure that members of the administrative, management and supervisory bodies of limited liability companies, acting within the competences assigned to them by national law, have collective responsibility for defining, disclosing and monitoring a corporate sustainability strategy;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers that the sustainability strategy should identify and address, in line with companies’ due diligence obligations, the significant impacts that the company might have on environmental, climate, social and employeeworkers and trade union matters, respect for human rights and anti- corruption and bribery matters connected to the company’s business model, operations and supply chains, including outside the European Union; considers that the duty of care that directors owe to the company requires also taking into consideration the interest of stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company’s activities;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Insists that if due diligence obligations and director’s duties are to be proposed in a single legislative instrument, they should be clearly separated in two different parts; considers that those obligations and duties are complementary but that they are not interchangeable, nor is one subordinated to the other.
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Further considers that the sustainability strategy should include measurable, specific, time-bound and science-based targets and transition plans aligned with the Union’s commitments at international level on the environment, climate change, particularly the Paris Agreement, biodiversity, and deforestation; stresses that it should also include policies on gender equality, the better integration of employee’srights of persons belonging to particularly vulnerable groups or communities, the better integration of workers and trade union rights in the business activities and a definition of a fair salary policy, and sector-specific and/or geographical matters; believes that the variable part of the remuneration of directors should be linked to the achievement of the measurable targets set in the company’s sustainability strategy; and concretely, that a minimum of 50 per cent of the variable remuneration should be based on non- financial criteria.
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Highlights that the obligations of the Paris Agreement to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1,5°C above pre-industrial levels imply for all sectors of the EU economy to become greenhouse gas neutral by 2050 at the latest, proposes therefore an obligation for all businesses, including financial institutions, to establish remaining greenhouse gas budgets, measure their greenhouse gas footprint, set targets towards aligning their operation with a 1,5°C compatible emissions pathway and be completely greenhouse gas neutral by 2050 at the latest, while publicly communicating on their effective steering progress towards meeting these targets
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls for measures to promote the long-term engagement by investors in companies through the introduction of loyalty shares; highlights that retained earnings can contribute to building adequate reserves;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Asks for the introduction of a maximum management-to-worker pay ratio, which would reduce wage inequality from both ends of the pay spectrum by raising wages at the bottom while at the same time preventing excessive wages at the top; asks that this ratio is also reported on regularly by the board;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 d (new)
Paragraph 15 d (new)
15d. Considers that state aid, public support schemes (including support from Export Credit Agencies, government- backed loans) and public procurement should be granted to companies that have taken strong, measurable, specific, time- bound and science-based commitments with regards to social and environmental sustainability; recalls that public support to companies, whether in normal or critical situations, should be granted with due consideration to the achievement of the wider social and environmental ambitions of the EU; calls on the Commission and Member States to set mandatory social and environmental sustainability criteria when providing public support to companies, including through the Recovery and Resilience Facility; considers that those criteria can include concrete commitments to take all reasonable measures to protect jobs, to strive for a fair distribution of profits within the company, to reduce their environmental and carbon footprints, and to align their activity to the Paris Agreement;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 k (new)
Paragraph 15 k (new)
15k. Notes that some companies carry out share buy-backs and distribute dividends in a way that is not compatible with sustainable business conduct nor with a fair and reasonable distribution of wealth; Stresses in particular that some companies suffering losses or carrying out redundancy plans chose to favour shareholders’ revenues via share buy- backs and the distribution of dividends, rather that reinvesting, protecting jobs and the long term interests of the company; calls on the Commission and the Member States to examine the possibility of regulating share buy-backs and the distribution of dividends for companies that are suffering losses or carried out redundancy plans;