General news

Investor statement on human trafficking and slavery

October 2011

Recognizing the broad influence of business on the global supply chain, an investor coalition representing over 90 organizations worldwide - led by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and including ECCR - issued a ­statement in June 2011 asking 27 companies to take a leadership role in abolishing human trafficking and slavery.

This statement was open for new signatories during National Ethical Investment Week in the UK (16-22 October). For more information contact ­Lauren Compere.­

National Ethical Investment Week 2011

October 2011 ­

UK Sustainable Investment and Finance (UKSIF), ECCR and CCLA produced a 12-page Action Guide for Churches for National Ethical Investment Week (NEIW) 2011­.  The Guide provides ideas and resources for worship, displays, newsletter articles and letters to the local press.

­­Download the Guide (pdf)­

Feedback form (doc)

­News release (pdf)

ECCR partners endorse UN Niger Delta oil spills report findings

August 2011

The National Coalition on Gas Flaring and Oil Spills in the Niger Delta (NACGOND) has welcomed a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report highlighting the extraordinary scale of oil spills in the Ogoni area of the Niger Delta.

NACGOND was formed by partner organisations of church-based research and advocacy group the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR).

News release (pdf)

News International hacking scandal highlights need for human rights due diligence

July 2011

The ever growing News International hacking scandal highlights two key lessons for all those who care about business ethics and corporate responsibility. First, News Corporation’s falling share price emphasises the link between good corporate governance and shareholder value. Second, the case reveals how far many multinational companies have to go before they meet minimum international standards of business and human rights.

Read more (pdf)

ICCR’s Social Sustainability Resource Guide for building sustainable communities

June 2011

Over 3,000 corporations now engage in public sustainability reporting. Who establishes the criteria to be measured and over what length of time?­ How do we define sustainability? A new Social Sustainability Resource Guide from ECCR’s US partner the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) provides a roadmap that shifts the focal point from corporate to community, the indicators from outputs to outcomes, and the horizon from short to long term.

ICCR offers this guide to stimulate further development of social impact measurements to create sustainable change.

Download ICCR’s guide (pdf)

Lee Coates, Chair of ECCR, awarded OBE in Queen’s Birthday Honours

June 2011

ECCR’s Chair, Lee Coates, has been made OBE in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours. On hearing of the award ‘for services to ethical business and finance’, Lee said: ‘I am proud of ECCR’s work in the area of business ethics, drawing global attention to the plight of disadvantaged communities impacted by big business. The support I have received as ECCR’s Chair has been exceptional.’

Lord Harries of Pentregarth, ECCR’s Patron, commented: ‘I am so glad that the issue of corporate responsibility is being recognised in this way.’

ECCR co-signs joint civil society statement on business and human rights

ECCR was one of 46 faith-based and civil society organisations from around the world calling for a robust UN mechanism to follow up on the work of Prof. John Ruggie, UN Special Representative on business and human rights, whose mandate has now ended. The statement was filed with the UN Human Rights Council on 16 May.

Read more (pdf)

ECCR supports calls for better regulation of worker protection

April 2011 ­

ECCR has joined a civil society coalition calling on the UK Government to enhance the protection of vulnerable workers by bringing the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate under the management of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority and adopting the GLA’s approach of targeted, intelligence-led enforcement across all industry sectors.

The Institute for Human Rights and Business, Anti-Slavery International, Oxfam GB, the Ethical Trading Initiative, the Association of Labour Providers and ECCR have submitted the proposal to Minister for Employment Relations Ed Davey MP as a contribution to the government’s current review of workplace rights.

Coalition proposal

ECCR report Vulnerable Migrant Workers

Banks should address full range of responsibility concerns, says new ECCR report

February 2011 

While the banking crisis has exposed risks of financial system instability, a new report published this week claims that banks need to address a far broader range of social, ethical and environmental concerns.

In its report The Banks and Society: Rebuilding Trust, church-based research and advocacy group the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) documents concerns about leading banks’ direct and indirect impacts on customers, employees, and local and national communities at home and abroad.­

­News release (pdf)

Read more

Faith-based investors and advocates including ECCR drop BP resolution and press for accountability

January/February 2011

UK, US and continental European faith investors and advocacy groups have agreed to work together to hold BP accountable following last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. ECCR was among those, led by Christian Brothers Investment Services of the US-based Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), that withdrew a planned shareholder resolution seeking increased disclosure of BP’s efforts to mitigate risk across operations...

Read more (pdf)

UK news release (pdf)

US news release (pdf)

ECCR becomes a registered charity

January 2011

Church-based research and advocacy group the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) has become a registered charity. ECCR completed registration with the Charity Commission for England and Wales at the end of 2010. It now hopes to secure and extend its work by being able to access a wider range of grants and Gift Aided donations...

Read more (pdf)

Look out for Israeli settlement dates this Christmas

December 2010

As a food traditionally associated with Christmas, many people will be buying dates over the next few weeks. If this includes you, please check the label to see where they come from. ECCR is encouraging members and supporters to avoid buying dates and other fresh produce originating in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories...

Read more (pdf)

National Ethical Investment Week 2010

UK Sustainable Investment and Finance (UKSIF) and ECCR have produced this 12-page Action Guide for Churches for National Ethical Investment Week (NEIW) 2010 (7-13 November). Sponsored by CCLA, the Guide provides ideas and resources for worship, displays, newsletter articles and letters to the local press.

News release (pdf) 

Download the Guide (pdf)

Feedback form (doc)

ECCR and Christian Aid joint submission on country-by-country reporting by extractive industries

July 2010

Christian Aid and ECCR  have made a joint submissi­on to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) consultation on a country-by-country financial reporting standard for the extractive industries (oil, gas, mining). The importance of country-by-country reporting is increasingly recognised – most recently in the new US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

­Our submission argues that a fully mandatory and comprehensive standard will increase companies’ accountability to governments and investors by combating aggressive tax avoidance, corruption and non-disclosure of risk, and will support the public interest by enabling civil society in developing countries to better monitor payments to governments as advocated by the Publish What You Pay coalition.­

Joint submission (pdf)

ECCR joins civil society coalition urging action on oil spills in the Niger Delta

July 2010

Following BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster, ECCR and many other human and environmental rights groups and civil society leaders have called for equivalent compensation to address the impact of oil spills in the Niger Delta.

Press letter (pdf)

Full statement (pdf)