The OECD 2025 Corporate Sustainability Report published yesterday sheds light on important trends as well as significant gaps in corporate practices related to sustainability and compliance with environmental and social standards. TUAC challenged companies and policymakers to strengthen corporate sustainability disclosure during yesterday’s OECD Roundtable on Corporate Sustainability Practices, underscoring that meaningful disclosure requires binding obligations rather than merely voluntary commitments, as well as full alignment with international labour standards. While participating in the high-level panel discussion, TUAC representatives highlighted the alarming global picture on environmental degradation and labour rights violations and advocated for more robust frameworks that centre workers’ voices.
Trade unions called for five essential components to ensure credible corporate sustainability reporting: mandatory disclosure requirements, stakeholder consultation with workers and unions, alignment with international standards, comprehensive value chain coverage, and independent verification through reliable sources.
"To be credible, disclosure must be mandatory and based on harmonised indicators aligned with international standards. It's not coincidental that companies report more on policies where there is mandatory reporting including on cases of forced labour and child labour. The same should be done for other fundamental labour rights, including non-discrimination, workers’ safety, the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining."
Growing opposition to ESG reporting requirements came under fire from trade unions, which pointed to the recent postponement of provisions in the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the proliferation of anti-ESG measures, including in the US. Labour representatives warned that this regressive trend threatens progress on corporate accountability.
The roundtable discussion also confronted the significant gaps in workers’ participation in boards and representation, with two-thirds of employees among listed companies that disclose this information neither represented by unions nor covered by collective bargaining agreements. Trade unions urged governments to address barriers to unionisation, including persistent informality, precarious forms of work and union-busting. TUAC stressed that genuine employee participation in boards should be underpinned by freedom of association and the effective right to collective bargaining. To strengthen worker voice throughout global supply chains, unions pushed for strengthened social dialogue mechanisms, including European and global works councils that extend to supply chains where union representation tends to be weaker.
Trade unions also highlighted how the current ESG landscape remains fragmented, with more established standards for measuring environmental performance than social impacts. TUAC challenged corporate governance frameworks to integrate environmental and social objectives more effectively, advocating for the just transition principle as defined in the Paris Agreement and the 2015 ILO Guidelines.
Looking forward, TUAC will continue to pressure standard-setters and policymakers to mandate comprehensive sustainability disclosure and to foster the integrity and credibility of the ESG landscape. A key priority will be tackling conflicts of interest and high concentration among service providers, including ESG rating agencies and proxy advisors. TUAC will build on the OECD/G20 Principles on Corporate Governance and continue to actively engage in the OECD Corporate Governance Committee as a key platform to take this agenda forward.
