SIO urges New York Stock Exchange to mandate social and environmental disclosure

The Social Investment Organization is urging the New York Stock Exchange to require publicly-listed companies to disclose their social and environmental risks.  The proposals are part of an international campaign to bolster NYSE governance standards in response to corporate abuses involving Enron, WorldCom and other companies.

"Our view of corporate governance is that social and environmental risk is a significant, yet largely unrecognized , factor in determining share value." states the letter in response to NYSE proposals to increase corporate accountability.  "Environmental problems, human rights controversies, product liability issues, employee concerns and other reputational issues all hold the potential to create share price discounts over the short-term and into the future.

The letter was drafted by the Policy and Advocacy committee of the Board of the SIO.  It is based on letters generated by numerous SRI investors around the world.

In the letter, the SIO calls for codes of conduct including social and environmental practices, mandatory reporting of social and environmental issues on a regular basis and increasing audits of social and environmental information.  The aim is to encourage corporate management to identify and manage all risks--including non-financial risks--over the long-term. 

 "The members of the Social Investment Organization believe that the current crisis of confidence in world capital markets is more than a problem of financial accounting. It is a problem of short-term thinking that externalizes corporate risks to stakeholders."

For a full copy of the letter, visit our Policy & Advocacy page.

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