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The EU Warns “There is No Escape” from its ESG Environment Madness

Impending EU Laws on ESG are On the Way

Please note Impending EU Laws on ESG Disclosures Will Be a Matter of Survival for Asian Suppliers.

Impending regulations in the European Union, which is at the forefront on ESG legislation, will soon require tens of thousands of suppliers across the supply chain in Asia to report their ESG performance, said Amfori president Linda Kromjong.

“If you don’t start preparing now, you will be late if and when the legislation kicks in,” she told the Post.

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, due to be rolled out next year, will require companies to disclose how sustainability issues, such as climate change, impact their business and how their operations in turn affect people and the planet.

Some 50,000 companies – all large companies and listed small and medium-sized firms – will have to make such disclosures, up from 11,700 large companies and public entities with more than 500 employees mandated under existing legislation. Auditing of the disclosures will be mandatory.

These companies will in turn require their global suppliers to disclose their sustainability data, such as greenhouse-gas emissions, so that they can calculate their own environmental footprints and social risk exposure.

The European Parliament’s environment committee last Thursday backed tougher legislation that will force firms with over 250 staff and annual worldwide turnover of more than €40 million (US$42.8 million), to check and report whether their suppliers within and outside Europe use slave or child labour, or pollute the environment.

No Escape From the Madness

‘There is no escape’ from impending European Union rules requiring sustainability reporting, Amfori president Linda Kromjong warns Asian suppliers

Also note that Brussels-based Amfori provides digital tools and training for suppliers to do self-assessments on ESG performance and compare themselves with industry benchmarks, based on international standards.

And you probably can guess what that means. 

If not, then please make another note: Hong Kong to pay 30 per cent more for ESG jobs as companies fight for talent to meet sustainability targets.

If you don’t think this madness is hugely inflationary, then you just are not thinking at all. 

This post originated at MishTalk.Com

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42 Comments
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Oldest Most Voted
Anon60637
Anon60637
3 years ago
Think of all of the EU requirements as non-tariff barriers. They will drive up the costs for EU consumers. There will also be an incentive for EU importers to smuggle in goods from non-compliant producers in third world countries. Some EU manufacturers may simply go out of business leading to more unemployment in EU countries.
MBA SOFA
MBA SOFA
3 years ago
One poor guy making nails and fifty bureaucrats making noise: compliance, ESG, IRS, OSHA, gender equality inspector…
Maybe ChatGPT can forge all that silly documents and save the economy.
Quagmire46
Quagmire46
3 years ago
Are we to believe Chinese manufacturers will be honest in this reporting?
The CCP is consistently dishonest in its dealings with foreigners.
Check out videos from Winston Sterzel (serpentza) on YouTube for some reality concerning the CCP.
This enforcing ESG on China is a fool’s errand.
prumbly
prumbly
3 years ago
No escape from the EU’s war with Russia either. Fascinating to watch Europe commit seppuku like this. They can see the immense damage they are causing to themselves, and yet they are unable to stop themselves doing it. A kind of madness.
Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
Reply to  prumbly
Fascinating to watch Russia commit seppuku like this. They can see the immense damage they are causing to themselves, and yet they are unable to stop themselves doing it. A kind of madness.
prumbly
prumbly
3 years ago
Reply to  Doug78
Russia is doing great. Their economy is GROWING, according to the IMF. They are giving the West a good spanking in Ukraine.
The funny thing is that this was entirely predictable, so why the West wanted to start this war is a complete mystery.
Anon60637
Anon60637
3 years ago
Reply to  prumbly
A lot of the blame needs to placed on neoconservatives in the US who won’t be happy until Russia is under the thumb of the US State Department/CIA.
PapaDave
PapaDave
3 years ago
Every single day in this comment section it is the same thing. People b*tching and complaining about govt, politicians, central banks, etc etc etc.
All these “experts” think they have all the answers and that all the actual decision makers are clueless.
What an enormous waste of their time. Plus they waste the time of people who end up reading their constant b*tching.
The saving grace is the IGNORE button. I use it regularly on people who never contribute anything of value to the conversation. It saves me a lot of time.
Zardoz
Zardoz
3 years ago
Reply to  PapaDave
It’s how they prevent themselves from enjoying what they have. I think it’s a puritan thing.
GruesomeHarvest
GruesomeHarvest
3 years ago
The real threat to human happiness and thriving is the low quality of our political leaders. Where do these miscreants and clowns come from?
prumbly
prumbly
3 years ago
The problem is that high quality people don’t want to become politicians. Take away the miscreants and clowns and there would be no one left. The future lies with ChatbotGPT perhaps. Will bots be given the right to run for office?
Anon60637
Anon60637
3 years ago
Reply to  prumbly
A few years ago, the Republican candidate in my California Congressional District was outed as a neo-Nazi by a web site. He lost the election but did get more than a few votes from people who voted for the party rather than the candidate. He later moved to Idaho.
KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
You don’t have to be smart. You just have to get dumb people to believe nonsense.
Bhakta
Bhakta
3 years ago
Were I still running my manufacturing company in Thailand, I would just tell the EU to —— off. There is plenty of good business without the EU.
killben
killben
3 years ago
Reply to  Bhakta
I hope your thoughts resonate with all the present suppliers. Just the right medicine to show the EU its place.
Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
Reply to  Bhakta
But you are no longer running a company in Thailand so you cannot tell the EU to ….off but you can in this forum tell us all what you would do if you could but you can’t do any longer because you are not in a position to do it. Social media is great for that.
Cocoa
Cocoa
3 years ago
Reply to  Bhakta
The EU, except for EU countries is totally irrelevant in global economy except as a purchaser. So they, again, are being protectionist with false green requirements. The entire EU and US economies are basically insolvent and grabbing at straws. Look, the US military is going to be defeated using slow balloons
KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  Cocoa
We use a $400k sidewinder missile to shoot down a $10k balloon. It’s the same math in Ukraine. What great military leaders we have. We can spend 1,000x more than the enemy and still not win.
killben
killben
3 years ago
Why supply to the EU? All suppliers supplying to the EU should band together preferably led by critical material or parts suppliers and just stop supplying to the EU. Will it happen? Unlikely. But if they can then they will be able to show the EU nannycrats their place. And believe me IT WILL WORK!
Like the market can stay irrational for much longer than you can stay solvent, this would be a good test for how long EU can survive without critical parts or material.
Mish
Mish
3 years ago
Greetings from Yosemite. Actually about 1 hr away. Hoping for a good shot of horsetail falls tomorrow.
Bhakta
Bhakta
3 years ago
Reply to  Mish
Hi Mish. Yosemite is one of the most spectacular places on the planet. I am from California and my parents took me there on vacation when I was young. I took my kids there, and when I had my plane in California, I would take all my guests for a plane ride through Yosemite Valley. Have an incredible experience.
GruesomeHarvest
GruesomeHarvest
3 years ago
Reply to  Mish
Are you attending the Vinter’s Holiday? I went a few years back. Great fun!
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  Mish
Good luck on getting the shots you want.
I stayed there over Thanksgiving in 2004 and it was an awesome place to visit and hike.
Six000mileyear
Six000mileyear
3 years ago
Europe has always had a problem with dictators. The latest breed are extra-sovereign.
Webej
Webej
3 years ago
wef, wef, wef !
These people think they are almighty and can shape human society and human nature.
All their schemes will result in D E P R I V A T I O N
Avery
Avery
3 years ago
Let Europe go back to the year 1000. AD or BC.
HippyDippy
HippyDippy
3 years ago
Or if you’re a business that pollutes the environment? You mean like coal companies, and lithium mining? And there is a way around it. Right through it. It’s called leaving the cave. That shadow show sucks.
Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
Reply to  HippyDippy
But some after leaving the cave run right back in.
JeffD
JeffD
3 years ago
China now a victim of social credit policing they pioneered.
KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
What’s forcing companies to tell the truth? And there will be workarounds. Like how companies can buy useless forest land to offset carbon penalties. Forest land that would never be lumbered.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Or just getting a bunch of fellow competitors to all report the exact same thing.
It’s funny because Europe needs the rest of the world far more than the rest of the world needs Europe (Europe is not self sustaining resource wise) so if I was those countries I’d tell the EU to go pound sand.
Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
As I said recently, it is not about ecology but a powerful incentive to reshore industry back into the continent. The requirements also promotes friendshoring since the companies that can prove they are complying are located in allied countries. Inflation is secondary in this brave new world as long as it doesn’t get out of control and it isn’t for the moment. The number one priority now is security in the large sense. Free trade and everyone holding hands singing kumbaya is pretty much over.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  Doug78
Inflation may or may not get out of hand. But standards of living will absolutely drop because you will be getting less for more.
There is a rather famous Ben Franklin quote about those willing to trade freedoms for security. Europe sounds like it’s being run by women and beta men.
Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
I guess that is why Europeans stood up to Putin and told him where to put it and backed it up with not only sanctions but is giving Ukraine everything it needs as well as making it clear that if Russia attacks Nato they will get smashed. Only women and betas do things like that.
You are using the Franklin quote wrongly. Increasing your security to defend yourself against an aggressor is safeguarding your freedom, not giving it away. Franklin was talking about people who bowed down to the British thereby giving up their freedom because they wanted to keep their possessions. The situation in Europe is the opposite. They are giving up willingly some of their prosperity in order to keep their freedoms.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  Doug78
Are they really standing up to him?
In my mind the West is basically doing everything it can to wash it’s hands of getting directly involved. If they really want to stand up to Putin they would have:
A) Fast tracked Ukraine into NATO.
B) Sent soldiers in addition to equipment.
C) Sent Nukes.
They’ve done none of that. Essentially they are sending surplus old military equipment in a massive give away to Ukraine and letting the Ukrainian people die in droves all while sniffing Chateau Briand and talking a good game to keep the Ukrainians fighting.
Yes, doing the above might have triggered WWIII but so what, it might come anyway. If Ukraine is really the hill to die on for Europe, they should starting dying for it. My guess is no one in Europe is actually willing to die for Ukraine.
Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
All in good time. If the Russians start to win in Ukraine then Nato will come in with everything and Russia will have to decide if Ukraine is really worth it for them. For the moment Ukraine is doing well and will do better with the new equipment. They will get planes soon too. Ukraine for all practical purposes is already in Nato as are Sweden and Finland. You should be realizing that this isn’t seen as dying for Ukraine. Putin has made this existential for Europe and no one, I mean no one wants to live under the Russian system not even the Russians. I would like to remind you that this continent took over the world and only gave it up after two wars that were much more destructive than anything we experienced in the US. They are not wusses and when they feel threatened they fight. Putin underestimated the Ukrainians and the Europeans and look what it got him.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  Doug78
You can’t be serious.
France and England haven’t been anything militarily since WWI destroyed them both forever. They both were knocked out of WWII in 6 weeks time (technically England didn’t surrender but they didn’t win a single battle till the US showed up in 42 and likely would have had to capitulate in 40-41 if the US also didn’t send endless food/oil to them to get past the German blockade). As for Germany, their military capability was dismantled after WWII. Europe today essentially just follows whatever lead the US takes. If the US decided to stop supporting Ukraine with arms then Europe would too about 5 seconds later since they have next to nothing to send (seriously their military budgets are rounding errors).
In fact what’s happening in Ukraine is almost a direct parallel of what happened in 39 when Germany invaded Poland. They promised to help Poland but all Britain/France did was declare war and stop trading with Germany (Sound familiar – sanctions). They’d didn’t attack Germany or bomb cities etc, they just dropped leaflets hoping to get the German people to rise up in rebellion (this time period was called the Phony War). Today they don’t drop leaflets, they just tweet or write web articles hoping to spark a Russian population uprising. But otherwise the are doing the exact same thing, promising to help and doing absolutely nothing besides sending outdated military equipment.
If Europe wants to get serious, then tell Putin he has 30 days to withdraw or Britain/France will start shooting nukes into Russia and sink every Russian boat / naval vessel etc. Make it a Cuban Missile Crisis Part II. Kennedy successfully backed down Khrushchev because Cuba wasn’t the hill Russia was willing to die on. Time to find out if Ukraine is the hill for Russia and Europe.
Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
Perhaps you should do some research on the size of Western European armed forces during the Cold War period. In the 1990’s they were tree times the size they are now. France had 400,000 active and over a million in reserves, West Germany had 500,000 with another million in reserves and the US had 350,000 stationed in Europe. Italy, the Netherlands and the UK’s forces were much bigger too. In 1990, the last year of the Cold War Western European armies were roughly three times larger in men and equipment .The International Institute
for Strategic Studies did a comparison in 2020 between the 1990 armies in Europe and now and if you want you can read it here: https://www.iiss.org/-/media/files/research-papers/european-defence-policy-in-an-era-of-renewed-great-power-competition—iiss-research-report.pdf
The parallel with 1939 and Poland has some serious problems, notably you forgot to mention that Poland is separated from France and the UK by Germany and more importantly when Germany invaded from the west the USSR invaded from the East so Poland had no way to receive aid because both its neighbors were its enemies. Ukraine today has a large border with Nato countries and can therefore receive all the supplies and equipment they can drive over the border so your comparison is very much erroneous in its most important dimension which is logistics. Another point where the parallel collapses is that in 1939 Germanies blitzkrieg succeeded while in 2022 Russia wannabe blitzkrieg failed miserably.
Your last point about Nato giving Russia a nuclear ultimatum is frankly ridiculous. The comparison with Cuba is so tenuous as to be almost no-existent. Russia invades Europe’s direct neighbor and you wonder why Europe reacts to protect itself.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  Doug78
So if they have all these armed forces, why aren’t they in the Ukraine right now fighting?
It’s been a whole year since Russia invaded. Europe should have called up all their reserves LONG ago, instituted conscription (any unemployed male ages 18-30 now has a job in the military) and given 6-9 months of training to the new recruits and started manufacturing arms at wartime speed. If they had, they’d have probably 3 million men in Ukraine by now. Russia doesn’t have 3 million men nor any way to reasonably reach 3 million men given Europes population is probably 3x that of Russia so they would easily overwhelm the Russian ground forces.
But they’ve done ZERO of the things I mention. All they’ve done is invoke trade sanctions and send old surplus military equipment to Ukraine. I read today that the US told Ukraine is doesn’t have any more long range missiles to send because they don’t want to deplete their own stockpiles in case they need them. I don’t recall the US holding back military aid to Europe in WWII.
Anyway, what’s wrong with giving Putin a nuclear ultimatum? Kennedy did it. He didn’t use the work nuclear weapons but the threat was implied that the US was going to destroy every Russian ship, plane etc that it could as the US was going to declare war on Russia. That would have led to nukes being used so it was in effect a nuclear ultimatum. Russia back off because Cuba wasn’t the hill to die on.
Right now Ukraine is not the hill Europe is going to die on either.
P.S. Britain/France could have sent aid to Poland via sea. The British owned the seas in 39. The US managed to keep Britain afloat for 2+ years via sea resupply. The US also managed to aid Russia during the initial German invasion too. So it clearly WAS possible but neither Britain or France really wanted to do it. Churchill would absolutely have done it, but Chamberlain did not have it in him.
Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
“So if they have all these armed forces, why aren’t they in the Ukraine right now fighting?”
No need for the moment because the Ukrainians are holding well. In the meantime defense spending in Europe has taken off in all the countries. As I said before if necessary they will come in but not before. In many European countries like Germany are seriously considering reintroducing conscription.
“old surplus military equipment” Seriously you should take a look at what Ukraine is getting in equipment because apparently you don’t know. Then we can talk about it if you wish.
“Anyway, what’s wrong with giving Putin a nuclear ultimatum?” Because there is no reason to do so. Russia will be defeated using conventional without it. Making a nuclear ultimatum when you don’t need one is just plain stupid.
I know that you do not want to die on the Ukraine hill but that is ok. Your tax dollars will be going to finance Ukraine’s defense whether you like it or not.
“P.S. Britain/France could have sent aid to Poland via sea.” Look at a map. You see that to send supplies to Poland you have to go through the Baltic which was controlled by Germany. Britain controlled the Atlantic but not the Baltic. That was Germany’s backyard. If the Soviet Union had not allied itself with Nazi Germany in 1939 it would have been possible to send aid to Poland via Murmansk and then by train to the Polish border but of course Germany and Russia invaded Poland together and divided the country between themselves.
Zardoz
Zardoz
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
How much do you need?
CoachSteve
CoachSteve
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
Point well-taken, Texas Tim! And all the time, there were folks in the US–who just thought that they were just a little better than the rest of us– who thought ‘anything European’ was the way to go…and the end result is…?

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