News Archives » Faith Responsible Investing
EU Parliament Adopts New Transparency Rules for Oil, Gas and Mining Companies June 13th, 2013
Ahead of the G8 Summit, the European Parliament adopted new transparency rules to require oil, gas, mining and logging companies to declare corporate payments to governments in countries where they operate – much like the Dodd-Frank Act Section 1504. At the G8 summit, leaders of the wealthiest nations are to consider reporting requirements for all multinational corporate payments made to governments. This kind of “country-by-country” reporting of profits and taxes can stem corporate tax avoidance to both poor and wealthy nations.
Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network, a faith-based antipoverty organization, released the following statement:
“Hats off to the European Union for promoting transparency and corporate accountability. Let’s hope it inspires ministers at the upcoming G8 meetings to curb corporate tax avoidance and promote transparency for all multinationals.
“The faith community believes that corporate tax avoidance constitutes a theft from the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. When the G8 addresses this issue in Northern Ireland, they can have a real impact on global poverty.
“It’s clear that the G8 host, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, wants multinational corporate tax avoidance to be addressed. Hopefully he’ll take the energy from the EU to the G8. We’ve got to act as every year poor countries lose more to tax dodging than they receive in aid.”
Read the EU transparency rules here.
Oblates Participate in a Vatican Meeting on Mining June 12th, 2013
Camille Piche OMI and Séamus Finn OMI participate in a meeting on Mining hosted by Cardinal Turkson at The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Rome on June 7th.
Representatives of the mining sector were joined by members of religious communities and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in developing a collaborative and inclusive reflection process on mining, taking into account the challenges and opportunities that it presents to all stakeholders.
Tax avoidance to be on agenda of 17-18 June G8 Summit June 12th, 2013
Senior Catholic bishops from all of the G8 countries urged G8 Ministers to tackle tax avoidance, saying that “paying a fair share of taxes” is a “moral obligation”. Cardinal Brady, the head of Ireland’s Catholic church organized a letter to the G8, urging leaders to make good on their pledge to tackle aggressive tax avoidance at a summit later this month.
Last month, US senators described Ireland as a “tax haven”, accusing it of facilitating a multibillion-dollar tax avoidance structure for Apple. Tax Justice campaigners have argued that Ireland’s ultra-low corporation tax rate of 12.5%, combined with a series of additional tax incentives, is having a corrosive impact on tax coffers elsewhere, particularly poorer nations.
“In terms of tackling hunger, nothing is more crucial…than tax justice”, says Oliver De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
The Tanzania Energy and Minerals Minister says multinationals’ tax evasion and avoidance by companies and others is “crippling development and negatively affecting government budgets to cover…health, education and food production.” Many multinational companies operating in Tanzania are alleged to have accounts in British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Bermuda and several other places under Britain to avoid paying taxes.
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has created a resource on the subject: “Tax avoidance: An introduction”. Please visit their website for this resource and more information.
The Oblates belong to a coalition of non-governmental and faith groups – Tax Justice Network – that is campaigning for a more just international tax system.
Faith-Based and Socially Responsible Investors Urge U.S. Retailers to Back Bangladesh Accord June 7th, 2013
People and rescuers gather after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013.
Used under Creative Commons license; photo courtesy of rijans on flickr
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a group of socially responsible investors of which the Oblates are active members, has asked US retailers to be part of the Bangladesh Fire and Safety initiative, a global accord that promotes the safety of garment workers that would be legally enforceable. The initiative was proposed after more than 1,100 workers died in a building collapse on the outskirts of Dhaka on April 24. The collapsed building housed garment factories that supplied to several Western retailers.
At least 14 North American retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), Macy’s Inc (M.N), Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O), JC Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) and Gap Inc (GPS.N) have declined to sign the accord.
They have said the accord gives labour unions too much control over ensuring workplace safety and have proposed the alternative “Safer Factory Initiative”.
ICCR, which was part of the Divestment from South Africa campaign in protest against Apartheid, said the alternative plan could dilute the impact of the accord and may not be legally enforceable.
Retailers such as Zara parent Inditex S.A. (ITX.MC), H&M (HMb.ST), PVH Corp (PVH.N) and Britain’s Tesco Plc (TSCO.L) have supported the Bangladesh fire and safety initiative.
Read the ICCR Statement on the issue…
Pope Francis Urges Humanity to Cultivate and Care for Creation, Not Money June 6th, 2013
Pope Francis dedicated the catechesis of Wednesday morning’s general audience to the environment, noting that June 5th is World Environment Day promoted by the United Nations. The following is the summary of his address. The full text of the Pope’s catechesis is available in the link given below.
“When we speak of the environment, of creation, my thoughts go to the first pages of the Bible, to the Book of Genesis, where it is affirms that God puts man and woman on earth ‘to cultivate and care for it’. And the question comes to me:” the Pope said to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, “What does it mean to cultivate and care for the earth? Are we truly cultivating and caring for creation? Or are we exploiting and neglecting it?”
“Cultivating and caring for creation,” explained the Holy Father, “is God’s indication, given not only at the beginning of history, but to each one of us. It is part of his plan. It means responsibly making the world grow, transforming it so that it becomes a garden, a place that all can inhabit.”
“Benedict XVI recalled many times that this tasked entrusted to us by God the Creator requires that we understand the rhythm and logic of creation. Instead, we are often guided by the arrogance of dominating, possessing, manipulating, and exploiting. We don’t ‘take care’ of it; we don’t respect it; we don’t consider it as a freely-given gift to be cared for. We are losing the attitude of wonder, of contemplation, of listening to creation. Thus we are no longer able to read in it what Benedict XVI called ‘the rhythm of the story of God’s love for humanity’. Why is this happening? Because are we thinking and living ‘horizontally’; we are drawing away from God; we are not reading his signs.”
“But cultivating and caring for doesn’t just refer to our relationship with the environment, the relationship between humanity and creation. It also concern human relationships. … We are living a moment of crisis. We see it in the environment, but above all we see it in humanity. The human person is in danger. … This is the urgency of human ecology! The danger is serious because the root of the problem is profound, not superficial. It isn’t just a question of economics but of ethics and anthropology. … The dynamics of an economy and finance that lack ethics are dominating.”
Speaking off the cuff, the pontiff added: “What is in charge today isn’t the human person but money. Money is in command. And God our Father has given us the task of caring for the earth not for the money, but for us: for men and women. This is our charge. Instead, men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption. It is a ‘culture of waste’.“
The full text of the Pope’s remarks are available here… (Download PDF)
