ESG

Japan’s financial regulator has set out a path for how sustainability reporting will evolve from a compliance requirement into something closer to financial reporting in both structure and scrutiny. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) on January 8 published a report and accompanying roadmap detailing how companies will be required to adopt standardized sustainability disclosures, and, crucially, how those disclosures will eventually need to be independently assured.

The Swiss Federal Council has opened a consultation on a proposed Federal Act on Sustainable Business Management, setting out a new framework that would require large Swiss companies to strengthen oversight of human rights and environmental risks in their operations.

There was a time, not long ago, when sustainability lived comfortably in the realm of language. It was shaped in marketing decks and annual reports, polished into pledges and promises that felt, if not always precise, then at least directionally virtuous. Companies spoke of pathways and commitments, of journeys toward net zero and stewardship, and for a while that was enough. The words carried weight simply because they were spoken.

The Belgian Competition Authority is attempting to bring some much-needed clarity to a question that has lingered for years across boardrooms and compliance teams alike. How far can companies go in working together on sustainability before cooperation starts to look like coordination?

China has moved to anchor its environmental ambitions in law, passing a sweeping Ecological and Environmental Code that pulls together years of policy, regulation, and climate commitments into a single legal framework.

There’s a quiet but consequential shift underway in how companies are expected to talk about pollution. And if the Global Reporting Initiative gets its way, that conversation is about to become far more detailed, far more comparable, and far harder to sidestep.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul is drawing a line between climate ambition and economic reality, warning that the state’s current path under its landmark climate law may need adjusting to avoid placing additional strain on households and businesses.