28th May: ecoDa has been represented by Alessandra Stabilini, at the European Family BusinessWeek to discuss Sustainable Corporate Governance;
4th of June: ecoDa’s Policy Committee meeting;
9th of June:
ecoDa’s Education Committee meeting;
ecoDa/PwC Joint Webinar on “How to approach tax governance as a strategic issue? A discussion for board members” (4.00-5.00pm CET). More information to be found here.
SAVE THE DATE: 9th of November: The 2021 EU Corporate Governance Conference under the Slovenian Presidency of the Council, will be organised online by the Slovenian Directors’ Association (a members of ecoDa) and ecoDa, with the support of EY. More information to be released shortly.
Today, due to an increased interest from the society, companies are aware of the importance of behaving in a socially responsible manner and of promoting good tax behaviour. Responsible tax behaviour is an important element of the corporate social responsibility of enterprises and their reputation with their stakeholders is consequently at stake. A growing number of stakeholders, such as investors (via the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment), pension funds, financial regulators and banks, are paying attention to a company’s tax strategy and also take tax behavior into account in investment or financing decisions.
Encouraged by a growing public demand, the European Union, including the Parliament, is moving forward on taxation and the next step could be to harmonise and institutionalise fair taxation and tax responsibility.
That is why the June 9 Webinar will focus on the different tax governance aspects for directors and the need to make it a strategic issue in the board rooms. In order to raise awareness, ecoDa has brought together leading experts to discuss and to guide directors on this essential topic.
Our speakers
– Cristiano Borean, CFO, Generali Group,
– Edwin Visser, Tax policy leader for the EMEA region and of PwC Europe.
ecoDa today releases an updated version of its groundbreaking Corporate Governance Guidance and Principles for Unlisted Companies, eleven years after the first edition. This edition has been endorsed by Commissioner Reynders, the OECD, the IFC and European Family Businesses.
With the growing public scrutiny of corporate behaviour and public demand for improved corporate accountability and transparency, ecoDa wanted to revise its principles of good governance for unlisted companies. The new version provides a more modern treatment of the role that ESG issues must play – particularly climate change.
The fourteen principles are still presented from a dynamic phased approach, which takes into account the degree of openness, size, complexity and level of maturity of individual companies.
“In times of crisis, unlisted companies must ensure a solid corporate governance framework – both to overcome the illiquidity risk and maintain access to external sources of financing. Corporate Governance can help businesses ensure their long-term continuity and success. This Guidance plays a crucial role in helping unlisted companies reflect on the potential benefits and costs of various governance approaches”, highlighted Leena Linnainmaa, ecoDa’s Chair.
ecoDa Guidance and Principles are adapted to the specific challenges faced by unlisted companies. It advocates for a proportionate and realistic implementation.
As specified by Roger Barker, co-chair of the Working Group responsible for the drafting, “This set of voluntary Corporate Governance principles makes sense for all European unlisted companies. However, it can serve as a reference for a more specific adaptation to national reality”.
“The new version has been enriched with a self-assessment questionnaire that allows companies to regularly measure their progress on the path to good governance”, added Juan Alvarez-Vijande, co-chair of the same Working Group.
The Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) requires certain large companies to report on social, employee and environmental matters, human rights and bribery & corruption. However, the information that is currently reported does not meet the needs of users.
The European Commission is reviewing the NFRD in order to remedy this and to ensure that companies from whom users need non-financial information report such information, and that reported information is relevant, comparable, reliable, and easy to access and use.
The proposal for a Sustainability Reporting Directive is expected to be published in April 2021 for consideration by the European Parliament and the Council.
This high-level conference is an opportunity for interested parties to find out more about the key issues and the objectives of the proposal and of its concrete implications. It will alternate between panels and keynote speeches from European and international leaders in the field of sustainable finance, including Commissioner McGuinness. The panels will address, among other topics, the role of sustainability reporting standards in promoting better sustainability disclosures from companies.
ecoDa is delighted to announce a partnership with the data provider, Ethics & Boards. This new collaboration comes at a time when structured data at European level is a must-have when providing information to the European Institutions regarding their policies and supporting their upcoming initiatives.
As stated by Jan Wesseldijk, ecoDa’s Chair, “our partnership with Ethics & Boards will allow us to correlate the trends that we observe with concrete figures”, while Floriane de Saint Pierre, Founder and President of Ethics & Boards welcomes “this new collcaboration with ecoDa, a key player in Corporate Governance at European level and we are looking forward to the upcoming dialogue”.
2. ecoDa – Mazars Event on “Sustainable Corporate Governance for Long Term Business Success”
ecoDa and Mazars are delighted to invite you to join a live virtual event on sustainability and corporate governance in Europe, scheduled on the 19th of January, from 4.00 to 6.00 pm CET.
This event will bring together board members, investors and regulators from across Europe to discuss the role we all have to play in fostering an ecosystem that promotes long-term sustainable success for the benefit of all stakeholders in a business and society at large.
Topics to be covered include:
The key challenges for corporate governance systems across Europe, including climate change, the impact of technology, effects of Covid-19, tensions in free trade, and diversity.
The possible changes to the regulatory system in the 2020s.
How boards can get the right board in place to achieve their full potential. How different boards will look by 2030, in terms of diversity, roles represented, international membership, etc.
The changes expected in investors’ focus over the next decade, and how this will impact their approach to governance.
3. ecoDa’s Webinar on “ESG: From Awareness to Strategic Moves”
ecoDa is organizing a webinar on “ESG: From Awareness to Strategic Moves” on the 10th of February, from 9.30 to 12.45 CET.
The purpose of this webinar is to bring together standard-setters and company directors together to discuss examples of good practices.
The discussion will be structured around two panels. The first one will focus on ESG performance and the consequent changes happening at board level, while the second will be an inspirational discussion for board members to walk to talk. The event will include speakers from DG FISMA, EFRAG, B-Corp Lab, S&P Global Ratings as well as board members from across Europe.
4. 4th Edition of ecoDa’s Corporate Governance Dialogue
Earlier this year, the 4th edition of the Corporate Governance Dialogue was organized by ecoDa. This year’s theme was on less hierarchical organizations and flat management, two trends that have been accelerated by the Covid crisis.
The Dialogue, based on two case studies from Mercuri Urval and Decathlon, engaged different experts who concluded that the slow but steady replacement of traditional top-down hierarchies with more decentralized structures impacts not only the way companies are operating but also corporate governance as a whole.
