It includes:

EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS DEVELOPMENTS
Council: Vote on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
EP and Council: Deal on delayed reporting standards for some countries
EP and Council: ESG ratings concluded
Council and EP: Political agreement on the Listing Act
EC: Recommendations for 2040 emissions reduction target and 2050 climate neutrality

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
IFRS Webcast: Overview of the forthcoming IFRS 18

EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENTS
EFRAG Releases First Set of 12 Explanations on ESRS Q&A Platform

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
Germany: companies and networks call for support to the CS3D but no aligned opinion in the business community
UK: Governance questions for the Post Office Horizon Inquiry
France: Female board quotas have improved employment practices

PUBLICATION/ARTICLE
CEO narcissism and earnings management
Study on barriers to sustainable development

EVENTS
Mc Kinsey: Helping boards navigate geopolitical risks – 27 February, 5-6 pm

ecoDa News

• ecoDa’s and WTWs report on 2023 Non-Executive Director Remuneration in Europe was mentioned as top news in the Board Agenda magazine, as well as in the GNDI January newsletter
• ecoDa Manifesto release – at the beginning of next week
• ecoDa Board evaluation – a questionnaire to be launched next Monday

• 14th of February 2024: GNDI Policy Committee meeting
• 19th of February 2024: ecoDa Advisory Committee meeting – The CG Dialogue

• REMINDER: The European Board Diploma spring session will take place on 18th, 19th, and 26th of March (central base) and 12th, 19th, and 25th of April (for the optional module(s) to be chosen). Find your programme, and register with us!

The EU Alert is available for download here.

ecoDa position statement on board evaluation – Board evaluation facilitators must be independent

ecoDa recommends that Corporate Governance Codes ensure the independence of board evaluation services in order to avoid potential conflict of interests. Good governance practices should include a cooling-off period for headhunters and rotation of commercial board evaluation services.

Corporate Governance codes are often silent on any possible risk of conflicts of interests when board evaluation is conducted by an external consultant.

“For reasons of independence, one should be cautious when a commercial consulting firm provides other consultancy services at the same time as the board evaluation takes place. Or when the same consulting firm is consistently selected to provide the evaluation of the board over a longer period”, underlined Rytis Ambrazevicius, Chair of ecoDa.

ecoDa is calling for:

• A declaration of significant risks of conflict of interests by the facilitators;
• A disclosure of whether the facilitator subscribes to a code of ethics or not;
• A cooling-off period after terminating a headhunting contract;
• An assessment by the appropriate Board Committee of the qualifications of the facilitator;
• A policy for pre-approval of any additional board services;
• A rotation (inspired by what applies to statutory auditors) for all commercial board evaluation services.

“A credible and professional board evaluation is key when looking for board performance to develop and excel”, concluded Béatrice Richez-Baum, Director General, ecoDa.

Read the full press release here.
Find ecoDa’s opinion paper via the button below.