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Socially Responsible Investors call for Mandatory Social and Environmental Reporting
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For Immediate Release September 19, 2002 The Social Investment Organization has called on Canadian securities regulators to implement mandatory social and environmental reporting by publicly-listed companies in Canada. In a brief to the Canadian Securities Administrators today, the trade association for the socially responsible investment industry called on the CSA to require publicly listed companies to disclose social and environmental risks and opportunities. The brief was in response to a comment paper CSA has issued on proposed changed to Continuous Disclosure Policy in Canada. "The SIO views mandatory social and environmental reporting as a key component of good corporate governance and appropriate continuous disclosure," said SIO Executive Director Eugene Ellmen. In its brief, SIO calls for:
"The SIO believes that the reforms now being debated in response to corporate accounting and auditing scandals in the US are only part of what investors need to obtain full information on companies," Ellmen said. "A full social, environmental and financial disclosure policy is needed. By requiring companies to disclose social and environmental issues of a material nature, investors will obtain a more comprehensive and truer picture of a company's long-term financial outlook. In addition, these disclosures will encourage management and Boards to identify social and environmental risks and to put risk management strategies into place to address them." A copy of the SIO's brief is included with this release. The SIO is Canada' s national non-profit trade association for the socially responsible investment industry. Its members include socially responsible mutual funds, and asset managers, financial institutions and financial advisors with clients holding socially responsible investments. SIO's members manage funds on behalf of more than 200,000 Canadians. For
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